Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
The wife of a former Army captain at the center of a hit-and-run boating incident spoke out to media this week saying her husband is “lucky that he’s alive” after he was hit while snorkeling in the Bahamas.
The incident happened on June 30 while the family vacationed in Exuma. Brent Slough, 42, of Prosper, Texas, was in the water snorkeling when he was sliced by the propellers of a boat that “never stopped,” his wife, Whitney Slough told reporters. Her husband, she said, was hit underneath the buttocks and the legs.
The boat that hit him never stopped.
In the immediate aftermath, Slough said, she and the others did not realize her husband had been hit by the boat. He was rushed to a local hospital and transported to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami on July 1.
“We’re lucky that he’s alive,” Slough told reporters. “And there’s no way that they should be able to get away with this.”
In her latest social media post, where she has been keeping friends, family and followers of the ordeal updated on her husband’s progress, Slough said that he had been moved to intermediate ICU on July 6. She called the move a “step in the right direction.”
“They know they hit him,” she told reporters. “They saw him snorkeling, and they drove off.”
Additional information, including whether any arrests have been made in this case, were not immediately available Wednesday.
Leesfield & Partners
As summer draws both tourists and locals outdoors to enjoy longer stretches of sunny days, it’s important to stay mindful of potential safety risks that can come with increased activity. For Leesfield & Partners attorneys — who handle cases across Florida from offices in Key West, Orlando, and Miami — this truth is deeply understood. Our attorneys have represented injured clients and their grieving families throughout devastating and life-altering boating accident cases for nearly five decades in the Sunshine State.
Much like this family’s tragic accident in the Bahamas, Leesfield & Partners has previously represented families affected by hit-and-run boating incidents. In fact, our attorneys are frequently sought by the media for their insight as the legal landscape continues to evolve in response to this ongoing safety concern. Most recently, Partner Justin B. Shapiro was interviewed by reporters with iHeart Radio in an article discussing Lucy’s Law, legislation named in honor of Luciana “Lucy” Fernandez, a high school student who died in a 2022 boating crash. The law, which went into effect on July 1, provides for stricter penalties for boaters who flee the scene of an accident and for those who are convicted of boating under the influence.
Changes such as this, Mr. Shapiro told reporters, are “long overdue.”
“I don’t understand why we need a driver’s license to drive a car but not a boaters license to operate a boat when, in many ways, operating a boat is more difficult and more dangerous,” he said.
Ira Leesfield, the firm’s Founder and Managing Partner, has long-since backed boating safety, education and awareness campaigns that highlight this ongoing issue.
“The dangers from boating incidents are entirely underestimated as South Florida becomes more congested, drinking on the water becomes more prevalent and distractions from cell phones and other devices increases,” he said. “Important safety standards must be enforced on all watercrafts.”
Previous Boating Accident Cases
Previously, the firm secured a substantial settlement in a case involving a minor who lost a leg while not being supervised on a vessel.
The firm also handled the case of a family whose young son was snorkeling when he was hit and killed by a passing boater. The boater in that case was also a minor who should never have been given permission to operate the vessel without supervision. Not only did this minor not stop, but he attempted to cover up evidence and lied to police when questioned.
Neighbors later testified that this minor regularly operated the boat in a reckless manner.
The firm represented the family of a young woman, 20, who tragically died when the vessel she was on crashed into a concrete dock. The firm secured over $1.3 million for the family when it was revealed that the boat operator had been drinking and speeding the night of the crash.
In a jet ski and boat crash, Leesfield & Partners attorneys secured $935,750 for their client.
In a boat case involving a foreign resort, the firm secured an $800,000 recovery for the injured client.
Another boating accident involving a negligent operator resulted in a $500,000 recovery.
The firm represented the widow of a man who drowned while on a boat tour at the Dry Tortugas National Park. The company’s tour guides instructed the man where he should go to snorkel and, within minutes, his body was found unresponsive.
The firm secured a six-figure recovery in that case.
Bernardo Pimentel II, a Leesfield & Partners Trial Attorney, represented the family of a young man and father-to-be who was lobster diving when he was killed by a law enforcement officer who negligently failed to adhere to divers-down flag laws.
In addition to boating accident litigation, Leesfield & Partners has represented the victims of various water-related accidents, including parasailing, tragic drownings and jet ski crashes.
Previous Jet Ski Cases
Jet ski crashes have resulted in more fatalities and injuries than any other water-related recreational activity seen by Leesfield & Partners, Mr. Shapiro explained in a previous Daily Business Review article. The reason for this, he said, is twofold: many people underestimate the physical strength required to handle these watercrafts in rough conditions, and despite being marketed as “beginner-friendly,” the reality is far more demanding.
“Unfortunately, little can be done to mitigate the danger of these death machines short of banning them,” he said. “As the summer months yield their inevitable slew of injuries, prospective renters should be aware of the life-threatening dangers of jet skis, and their attorneys should be intimately familiar with the many regulations that were enacted to keep them safe.”
In the last several years alone, the firm has secured more than $10 million in verdicts and settlements for clients injured as the result of jet ski crashes in the state.
One avoidable death that altered the life of a couple forever resulted from a Key West rental company flouting necessary safety training requirements, as mandated by law. The company failed to ensure that every one of their renters understood the safety tutorial and knew how to operate the personal watercraft that day. A French-speaking renter, who they did not adequately prep, fatally collided with the wife of a Leesfield & Partners client. The company failed to provide their customers with the translation he needed to understand how to use the jet ski.
Leesfield & Partners attorneys were able to secure a multi-million-dollar settlement for the family in that case.
In another jet ski crash, a man visiting from California with his family was seriously injured when he violently crashed into a concrete bridge piling. The man was on a guided jet ski tour with his family at the time. The guides, who are required to prep their customers for the strong currents they would face, led them through a narrow bridge opening and sped far away from them throughout the tour the day the man crashed.
Leesfield & Partners previously represented a jet ski crash victim who suffered serious injuries and obtained a $1 million recovery for that client.
The firm secured a $935,000 recovery for a client involved in a jet ski collision with a boat.
A $900,000 recovery was obtained for a client injured in an accident involving a jet ski company.
A jet ski crash case involving a rental company resulted in a six-figure settlement amount obtained for an injured Leesfield & Partners client.
