Florida boat captain charged with killing mother and injuring two kids by cutting their parasail loose

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A boat captain in Florida has been accused of negligence for failing to prevent a Memorial Day parasailing accident that killed a woman and injured two children.

Daniel Gavin Couch, 49, was charged with manslaughter and breaches of commercial parasailing laws for his alleged role in the death of Supraja Alaparthi and the injury of her son and nephew in May.

Alaparthi, 33, from Elk Grove Village, Illinois, was killed when her parasail crashed into the Old Seven Mile Bridge just west of Marathon in the Florida Keys after Mr Couch cut the line that tethered her to his boat.

The crash happened during a Memorial Day vacation with Alaparthi’s two children and other family members.

Her 10-year-old son and nine-year-old nephew were also injured, while her six-year-old daughter and ten other family members allegedly watched from the boat.

Now Florida authorities accuse Mr Couch of a string of safety failures leading up to the deadly accident, culminating in his decision to cut the family's tether when their parasail was caught by high winds and began to drag the boat behind it.

"Daniel Couch had an utter disregard for the care of his passengers, who entrusted him with their lives by allowing them to fly [even] after he acknowledged that the weather was quickly deteriorating," states an arrest warrant obtained by Local 10 News.

"Upon realising the parasail was no longer under his control, Daniel Crouch made a gross and flagrant decision to cut the tow line, the only means of the passengers' safe return to hte vessel, without taking into reasonable account any other available actions.

"This indifference to the consequences of his decisions and actions resulted in the death and serious injuries to these parasailers."

Ricky Patel, a lawyer for Alaparthi's family, told ABC 7: "They saved up for this vacation. They made it to the keys. This was a dream vacation for them that turned into a nightmare... for the families to have got on this ship when the weather was bad was horrific."

Mr Couch had not yet entered a plea as of last Thursday, and was being held on a bail of $100,000.

According to the warrant, Mr Couch told investigators that cutting Alaparthi loose was the only way to prevent his vessel from being dragged onto a nearby spit of land and potentially into the concrete pillars supporting the bridge.

It details how Mr Couch and his crew attempted to rescue the three parasailers by taking his boat close to them and repeatedly trying to grab them with a boat hook and then with his hands.

However, once the parasail crashed into the bridge, the warrant alleges that Mr Couch "did not manoeuvre his vessel under the bridge to offer aid even though the family members on the parasail vessel later reported they were begging him to help".

The warrant further alleges that, prior to the crash, Mr Couch broke state safety laws by failing to keep his radio and weather forecasting device switched on, failing to monitor satellite images of the approaching storm, failing to heed a National Weather Service (NWS) bulletin predicting strong winds and thunderstorms.

It says that he could not provide investigators with the captain's licence that must legally be displayed on his vessel, and that other evidence contradicted his claims to have checked the weather earlier in the afternoon and attempted to call 911.

"Couch was unable to provide an explanation on why he did not attempt any other vessel manoeuvres... or any other preventative measures," the warrant says. "The only measure that Couch took was to cut the tow line."

It adds that although Mr Couch sounded an airhorn to signal the three parasailers to activate their emergency stop system, other passengers told investigators that they had never been shown where the activation strap was, and the system itself had been installed incorrectly.

The case continues.