A video went viral of two boaters throwing trash into the water off the coast of Florida. A state official said Thursday that the two boaters are minors and that they will soon be charged.
Maj. Dustin Bonds, a south region officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), said that the teens’ lawyers told them not to help the police.
Bonds said that the agency is working with officials in the office of the state attorney for Palm Beach County to figure out the right charge.
That trash that was dumped into the Boca Inlet on Sunday could change the charges, Bonds said.
Bonds said he couldn’t believe what he saw on the video because he has never seen anyone throw trash into the ocean.
“I was shocked that folks that are enjoying our waterways, just like the hundreds of boaters in Boca that day were doing, but this one boat decided that it was OK to dump two trash cans overboard,” said he.
The wildlife office said that other people seen on the boat have also been identified.
But Bonds said he hopes people who saw what happened on the boat will come forward and talk to police. Bonds said that there were about 16 kids on the boat, but only one of them has freely talked to police.
Roger Barreto, Chair of the FWC, said on NBC’s “TODAY” show that the tape “has become a worldwide story.” “I mean, everyone is watching this.”
The people officials said were involved were not named in public.
They said they are working with the state attorney’s office to “identify appropriate charges” in the case that happened at the Boca Inlet on Sunday.
The YouTube video, which was made by Wavy Boats, shows two people throwing trash into the water from separate trash cans.
The people in the film were at the annual Boca Bash, according to the event’s organizers, who said they are trying to figure out who they are.
The Boca Bash said on its Facebook page, “We could not be more upset and angry about these actions.” The moment the video was shared, we worked with the community right away to find out who owned the boat and who was on it at the time of the horrible crime. A number of people who helped identify them had already called the police to take care of the problem.
People in charge of the event also said that the boats involved should face “repercussions”:
“We do not agree with this behavior at all, and we are shocked that the passengers were so rude as to clap at the drone that was filming them throwing away trash.” We hope that the punishments will serve as a reminder to everyone how important our waters are to us original Floridians.
