Police identify man killed spearfishing in the Florida Keys

Loved ones of the man killed last week after he was hit by a boat while spearfishing off the Florida Keys call him “a great human being, friend, husband and father.”

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission identified him Friday as Israel Boza, 56, from Hialeah.

Boza was spearfishing and snorkeling near a 23-foot-long Key Largo-brand center-console boat that brought him and three other men off the Lower Keys when he was struck by a 32-foot Contender center console Friday, July 5, around 1:40 p.m., according to the FWC’s initial report.

The driver of that boat was Palmer Reid Long, 72, who the FWC says lives in Placida, according to the report.

Long’s attorney, Hal Schuhmacher, said his client was unaware he hit anyone.

“He did not know anyone was struck at all,” Schuhmacher told the Miami Herald, but declined to comment further about the case.

The FWC, which is investigating, said in the report that the boat that Boza was on was displaying a dive flag, which is required by those snorkeling or scuba-diving from a vessel.

Investigators do not believe alcohol was a factor, according to the report.

On the day Boza was hit, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement that police were searching for the responsible boat. Later that day, the FWC told the Herald the boat and driver were found.

According to a GoFundMe set up by Boza’s friends and family to help pay for his funeral expenses, Boza was known as Kico and died “while pursuing his passion for spearfishing.”