Florida Governor David Veglia is dead and his young son was injured in a hit-and-run boat accident in Miami
A Florida man died in a boating accident that involved his teenage son when a 30-foot vessel crashed into their small boat while they were cruising south of Miami on Wednesday.
David Veglia, founder and president of ABTS Convention Services in South Florida, was struck and killed by a large boat while leaving Biscayne Bay around 8:11 p.m., NBC 6 South Florida reported.
Veglia’s son, 14, was hospitalized with a broken arm.
The multi-vehicle vessel that was allegedly involved in the collision was seen moving away after the incident, according to footage obtained by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“The vessel involved has not yet been identified and is described as a 20- to 30-meter boat that may have two outboard motors and is described as a light blue boat with black paint on the bottom,” FWC chief George Reynaud said at a press conference Thursday.
The two sons were on their 7-foot boat at a station near Miami Beach when a large boat hit them, throwing them overboard.
Two young witnesses in the area recalled hearing anguished pleas for help from Veglia’s son.
“We hear ‘Help, help!’ That’s when I run to the dock, and I see like a silhouette or like a shadow of something, and we do it again [say]’Somebody, they need help, they need help,’” Samuel Londoño told WSVN.
“We called the police right away, we informed them about everything. I shouted that he was floating before the police came, he was floating. He was floating there with his father, holding him,” said Enzo Avelino. “My father was unconscious when they picked him up and brought him back.”
Both Veglia and her son were taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The suspect boat was last seen heading north from Biscayne Bay between 7:45 p.m. and 8:15 p.m., the newspaper reported.
The police have not yet arrested the person in charge of the boat and no one has been arrested.
Veglia’s best friend Joao Moraes paid tribute to the fallen officer after the tragedy.
“I can’t bear that God took this man, so young,” Moraes told NBC 6. “I lost my best friend.”
“Davide, my friend, my best friend, I miss him in my life, great love for football, for everything,” said Moraes, revealing that the two had spoken earlier in the day and planned to have lunch on Friday.
“I’m shocked. I sat down all day and cried because I lost the best person in my life,” added Moraes.
Veglia founded a medical communications company in 1995 while a 25-year-old international student.
The company has offices in Miami, San Francisco, Rome and Belgrade, according to his LinkedIn page.
