KEY LARGO, Fla. – The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission released new details Tuesday in an arrest that stemmed from a deadly late-December boat crash off Key Largo.
FWC officers said Christopher Erdman, 31, of Carthage, North Carolina, flew into an apparent drunken rage after being ejected from a 21-foot Century Bay that his father had crashed into an anchored sailboat.
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Authorities said Erdman, from the water, directed his anger at a man from the sailboat — a senior vacationing in the Florida Keys with his wife — who was trying to come to his aid. All the while, they said FWC officers were still looking for a runaway boat and an unaccounted-for victim who would later be found dead.
Investigators said the crash happened in Buttonwood Sound at around 8 p.m. on Dec. 27.
Prosecutors said Erdman’s father, Guy Erdman, 61, of Oakland Park, struck the anchored sailboat, ejecting everyone aboard his vessel. That included a 24-year-old woman identified as Sydney Cole.
Cole, of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, would later be found dead in the water.
According to an FWC report obtained by Local 10 News on Tuesday, one of the sailboat’s occupants, a 71-year-old man visiting from Yorktown, Virginia, felt an impact and saw damage. Investigators said he boarded his dinghy “to help get the individuals that were ejected from (their) vessel out of the water.”
Officers said one of those individuals was Christopher Erdman. They said Erdman, in the water, began threatening the senior trying to help him, saying he would “kill” him and his wife.
Authorities said Christopher Erdman boarded the victim’s dinghy and “forcefully pushed (him) into the water after he threatened to kill him,” placing the senior “at significant risk of drowning, sustaining bodily injury or death.”
“The danger was further heightened by the potential presence of harmful marine wildlife, such as sharks and crocodiles, which could have inflicted additional harm,” an FWC officer wrote. “The danger for (the victim) was enhanced even further as there was a runaway vessel whose location and direction of travel was unknown. At any moment, the runaway vessel could have struck (him) and the vessel’s propeller posed a significant threat of catastrophic injuries.”
The report states that the victim “managed to swim around his sailboat and climb back onto his sailboat’s right side (starboard) and went towards the smaller vessel in an attempt to defend himself, his wife, and his property.”
“Christopher Erdman then intentionally struck (the victim) in the face multiple times,” the officer wrote.
He wrote that Christopher Erdman was “extremely irate and belligerent towards me and the other officers on scene,” yelling “f--- you” and “you f---s” at them.
“Christopher Erdman exhibited bloodshot eyes and there was a distinct heavy odor of alcohol emanating from his facial area, which strongly suggested intoxication,” the report states. “He also admitted to (having) been drinking alcohol throughout the day.”
Authorities later noted that the Virginia man said he had planned to end his vacation in March but decided to leave the Keys the next day “as (he) and his wife were in fear.”
Officials with the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office said that Guy Erdman “appeared severely intoxicated” after the crash and alcohol “seems to have been a contributing factor.”
Guy Erdman has not been arrested or charged as of Tuesday.
Christopher Erdman, following his arrest on charges of aggravated assault and battery on a person 65 or older, would later be released from a Monroe County jail after posting a $30,000 bond.
He has pleaded not guilty in the case and has an arraignment hearing scheduled for Feb. 4, Monroe County court records show.