2 teens charged after viral video shows bins of trash being dumped from boat in Florida

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Two teens were charged after a viral video showed bins of trash being dumped from a boat in Florida, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The video was taken on Sunday by a content creator, Wavy Boats, who posts videos on YouTube from inlets in Florida. The video shows the boat leaving the Boca Raton inlet with about a dozen people on board.

The boat’s operator walked to the side of the boat and picked up trash cans filled with bottles, cans, and other items, and emptied it into the water, according to the FWC. A second person was also seen dumping a trash bin into the water.

The two individuals were later identified as a 15-year-old from Gulfstream and a 16-year-old from Boynton Beach, according to the arrest reports.

Each teen was charged with a third-degree felony of causing pollution, so as to harm or injure human health or welfare, animal, plant, or aquatic life or property, according to the FWC.

Drone video showed the trash scattered in the water.

FWC officials looked up the boat’s registration and went to the address, where they were met by the 15-year-old’s father. The father told investigators “this is not a representation as of who we are,” and asked to arrange a time they could meet with legal counsel present.

Two people who were identified as passengers confirmed to FWC officials the identities of the two teens who dumped the trash from the boat. Neither of those two people have been charged.

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