KEY LARGO, Fla. – Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers arrested an Oakland Park man on Wednesday in connection with a December boat crash in the Florida Keys that left his son’s girlfriend dead.
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Guy Erdman, 61, is facing a felony BUI manslaughter charge as well as six misdemeanors after the Dec. 27 crash off Key Largo.
Authorities said Erdman was operating a 21-foot Century Bay motorboat with a blood alcohol content at “nearly twice the limit” when he struck an anchored sailboat in Buttonwood Sound, ejecting all four passengers on his boat.
One of those passengers was Sydney Cole, 24, of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, who was found dead in the water after a multi-agency search.
Cole was the girlfriend of Erdman’s 31-year-old son, Christopher Erdman, who was also aboard and later accused of assaulting a passenger on the sailboat.
Monroe County court records show the younger Erdman, of Carthage, North Carolina, entered into a pre-trial diversion program in his case, in which charges are set to be dropped if completed. His attorneys have maintained that he was panicking and trying to save his girlfriend’s life in the immediate aftermath of a chaotic incident.
Guy Erdman, meanwhile, was being held on a $240,000 bond in the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Plantation Key jail facility as of Wednesday afternoon, according to online records.
“This devastating and avoidable loss of a young life underscores the dangers of boating under the influence,” FWC Maj. Alberto Maza said in a news release. “If you choose to boat impaired, we will hold you accountable.”
Jail records did not list an arraignment date as of early Wednesday afternoon.