Georgia man arrested after South Florida boat collision injures several people

A man from Georgia has been arrested after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said he was driving a boat that collided with another vessel off the South Florida coast and then fled the scene over the weekend.

Officials said that the FWC was notified of a boat accident that had occurred near the Haulover Sandbar around 1 a.m. Saturday.

The FWC said a 39-foot Donzi, which was being operated by 42-year-old Daniel Lawson, of Atlanta, with multiple passengers on board, was involved in a collision with a 20-foot angler that had three people on board.

"Multiple victims" were seriously injured in the boat collision, and the FWC said they were rushed to a local hospital to be treated.

According to the arrest form, a juvenile male on the angler suffered a hairline skull fracture and multiple head lacerations. An adult woman suffered from a collapsed lung, multiple fractured ribs, blood surrounding the lung, and a lacerated spleen.

After the collision, Lawson fled the scene, investigators said, and eventually anchored his boat at Haulover Sandbar. Witnesses told investigators that he never returned to the site of the collision, nor did he inform police of the incident.

According to the arrest form, Lawson instead called a vessel towing company in order to recover the boat. Officials said that he was trying to remove the boat from the water before law enforcement could conduct its investigation and process the boat as evidence in a criminal investigation.

On Sunday, the FWC charged Lawson with reckless operation, leaving the scene of an accident, and tampering with evidence. He was arrested and taken to jail.

The incident remains under investigation.