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Officer to boaters: ’Do the right thing to ensure you can get home safely’

MIAMI – Authorities are asking boaters and people with personal watercraft to take safety precautions such as wearing life jackets and staying sober while having fun in the water during this Labor Day weekend.

Officer Ronald Washington, a spokesman for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation, said doing so is a matter of life or death.

“Do the right thing to ensure you can get home safely,” Washington said.

Washington said the warnings come as a family is grieving. Tochukwu Ndiokwelu, of Houston, Texas, was recently riding a Jetski in Biscayne Bay when he lost control and crashed.

According to the incident report, Ndiokwelu struck a concrete structure Aug. 29, off the Miami Marine Stadium at the Virginia Key barrier island.

Miami Fire Rescue personnel took Ndiokwelu to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center where a doctor pronounced him dead. He was 37.

Miami Police Department detectives and FWC officers responded. Investigators determined Ndiokwelu died after the alcohol-related collision.

For more information about boating safety, call the FWC’s Boating Safety Section at 850-488-5600. Here is a list of authorized vendors of rental boats and personal watercrafts.

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