Major League Baseball player Anton Charles Woakes died in hospital after the personal watercraft he was riding in collided with a boat near Miami Marine Stadium, according to a preliminary investigation report obtained by the Miami Herald on Friday.
The two vessels collided Wednesday afternoon when the boat, a 46-foot Scarab, was heading north in Biscayne Bay and an 11-foot Yamaha personal watercraft was heading west to east. The details come from an initial crash report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the state police agency that investigates most boating accidents.
The impact caused the 25-year-old walkers to fall into the water, the report said. Paramedics took him to shore and then to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he died at 3:25 a.m. Thursday, investigators said.
Read the police report: What Happened to Kill a Young Soccer Player on Biscayne Bay?
The driver of the Scarab, Eric Olson, 70, of Pompano Beach, was not injured in the crash, the report said. Yamaha operator Marie-Louise Taubert, 32, from Germany, was unharmed.
“Our thoughts are with the family, friends and fans of Mr. Woakes,” FWC spokesman Arie Callender said in a statement. “This is an active investigation and there is no further information available at this time.”
Investigators say it is not yet known whether alcohol was a factor in the crash.
Personal watercraft are often known as jet skis after the name of a popular model made by Kawasaki.
Walkes played as a defender for Charlotte FC in North Carolina.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
This story was originally published January 20, 2023 10:46 am.
David Goodhue covers the Florida Keys and South Florida for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald. Before joining the Herald, he covered Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware.
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