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Authorities have filed misdemeanor charges against two Florida men in connection with the boating hit-and-run death of a 15-year-old high school freshman while she was wakeboarding with friends last year.
Carlos “Bill” Alonso, 79, is charged with violating two U.S. Coast Guard navigational rules, and Edmund Hartley, 31, is charged with violating four Coast Guard rules, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC).
In May 2024, Ella Adler, 15, and a friend were wakeboarding in Key Biscayne’s Nixon Beach, located south of Miami. The girls were being towed by a boat driven by Hartley and carrying a dozen people when they fell into the water in different locations, according to officials.
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While in the water, Adler was struck by a second boat that subsequently sped off, officials said. Witnesses reported seeing a center console boat with blue bottom paint and multiple outboard engines at the time of the incident.
The description led investigators to Alonso’s Boston whaler docked outside his Coral Gables home, with Alonso previously telling authorities he was unaware he had struck someone, according to his attorneys.
“What happened last year was an absolute tragedy, but it was not Bill’s fault,” Lauren Krasnoff, the attorney representing Alonso, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Bill is an experienced and cautious boater and that is how he acted that day. FWC explicitly told us that they did not find Bill’s actions caused the accident. Because of that, we were very surprised to learn about the citations.”
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Adler was a freshman at Ransom Everglades School in Coconut Grove and a Miami City Ballet ballerina, where she performed in more than 100 shows, according to her obituary.
“In her 15 years on this earth, she dazzled us with her light,” her family wrote. “She emanated love and joy.”
The 15-year-old ballerina was the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and was a proud Jewish-American, according to her family.
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“She loved Israel and came from a long line of Jewish leaders with a strong commitment to faith and tikkun olam,” her obituary reads. “She wore her identity proudly and loudly, just like her parents.”
The attorney representing Hartley did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
“The FWC extends its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Ella Adler,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Our thoughts remain with them as they continue to cope with this unimaginable loss.”
Both men are charged with multiple counts of careless operation of a vessel and have pleaded not guilty.
“My deepest condolences to the Adler family,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava previously posted to X. “Let’s honor her memory by exercising better boat safety, to ensure tragedies like this never happen again. May she rest in peace.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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