POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – Broward County deputies arrested a man Wednesday who authorities said was operating a boat with alcohol and drugs in his system and crashed it into a jetty along Hillsboro Inlet last August, injuring four people.
Court records show John Friedrich Higgins, 43, of Longwood, is facing two felony and three misdemeanor charges.
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According to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report, Higgins crashed the 30-foot, two-engine Sportsman boat “Royal Gainz” into the jetty at a “high rate of speed” at around 9:45 on the night of Aug. 5, 2023.
FWC officers were informed that four people were aboard, one of whom was initially unaccounted for. Additionally, the vessel did not have a valid registration number.
All four occupants suffered varying degrees of injuries, officials said. One passenger had a spinal fracture and a broken leg, another had a broken jaw and a severe laceration; Higgins suffered a brain bleed and broken ribs.
Authorities said Higgins, during an interview in the hospital, was “confused” and had a “strong odor” of alcohol on his breath.
A passenger claimed that the group had been returning from Bimini in the Bahamas and that no one had been consuming alcohol.
However, the report states that toxicology tests taken after the crash show that Higgins had a blood-alcohol content of 0.14%, nearly twice the legal limit.
He also had the prescription benzodiazepine drug lorazepam, also known by the brand name Ativan, in his system, along with over-the-counter antihistamine diphenhydramine, often sold as Benadryl, in his system, according to the report.
Both medications can heighten the effects of alcohol, authorities said.
Higgins is facing two felony counts of boating under the influence causing serious bodily injury, two misdemeanor counts of boating under the influence causing property damage and one count of reckless operation of a vessel.
He was also cited for improper display of vessel number.
Online records show he was being held in the Broward Main Jail on a $25,000 bond.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct a typographical error. The original article misstated the suspect’s alleged blood-alcohol content as .014% rather than 0.14%.