Boat driver killed, got ‘mangrove in his head’ in Keys boat crash, Florida police say

A Key Largo man died after crashing his boat into mangroves, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers said Sunday.

Joseph Guenther was 58.

According to a Fish and Wildlife accident report and accident synopsis, Guenther “was traveling north in Blackwater Sound at a high rate of speed” and “driving erratically” when he made a wide left turn into Dusenbury Creek around 9:30 a.m.

Guenther hit the mangroves on the boat’s right. The 21-foot Action Marine boat was thrown to the left, where it “penetrated the mangrove shoreline head on.”

Guenther “was discharged from [the] vessel. Appears [Guenther] is going to have a mangrove lodged into [his] head.”

The FWC said Guenther needed CPR and his heart had stopped beating. He was flown to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital.