A 51-year-old Miami Beach man is facing an attempted felony murder charge after he allegedly swam up to a diver's surface air supply unit and turned it off mid-dive, in front of multiple witnesses, because he believed the other boat had stolen his lobster spot. The diver, 18-year-old Hunter Coffer, surfaced gasping and disoriented, tangled in his air hose and an anchor line. The reason this all happened: lobsters.
What Actually Went Down on Biscayne Bay
According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office report, the morning of July 29 started as a routine lobster-hunting trip for Hunter Coffer and the crew aboard a vessel owned by Steven Del Sol. Then a 28-foot Conch-brand boat rolled up and started circling the area, its passengers furious that their "spot" had been poached.
As The Guardian reports, things escalated quickly when a second, larger 39-foot Contender-brand boat arrived to back up the Conch crew. By this point, Coffer was already in the water, breathing through a surface-supply air system called a Brownie's Third Lung, which pumps air down to a diver from a unit on the boat above. Del Sol had to warn a juvenile diver from the Contender to stay away from the device because someone was actually using it to, you know, breathe.
That warning apparently did not land with Michael Joseph Simpson Jr. The sheriff's report alleges Simpson announced, "I'll turn the Brownie off if I want to!" and then did exactly that. He swam up to the unit and shut it off, with witnesses watching and at least one person filming on a cellphone. Coffer was left without air at depth.
At least one of Coffer's companions reportedly screamed, "We have a diver down there, you asshole!" Del Sol jumped into the water and pulled Coffer up by the air hose. When Coffer broke the surface, he was gasping, disoriented, and tangled in both the hose and a nearby anchor line. Simpson, per the sheriff's office, then fled on the Contender boat.
The Charges and the Surrender
Simpson, of Miami Beach, surrendered on August 4 through his attorneys at Turner Guilford Knight correctional center, according to the sheriff's report. He was booked on one count of attempted felony murder and later posted a $10,000 surety bond to get out while the case proceeds.
The Guardian confirmed that Coffer's age was not listed in the sheriff's report, but multiple news outlets have reported him as 18 years old. An 18-year-old, underwater, who nearly drowned because a grown adult made a snap decision to cut his air. Over lobsters.
The Defense Has Some Thoughts
Simpson's attorney, Howard Srebnick, issued a statement Thursday calling the allegations "false" and offering a significantly different version of events. Srebnick claims that video footage shows one of the accusers fell off their own boat and became entangled in the Third Lung device while Simpson "was nowhere near it."
On the question of fleeing the scene, Srebnick pushed back with what may be the most precise damage-control language of 2026: Simpson "wisely putt-putted away from the immediate vicinity at idle speed" rather than let things escalate, before positioning his vessel nearby. The attorney also noted that Simpson cooperated with Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officers who responded to the scene and gave them a statement.
Srebnick's statement also included what might be the most ironic character reference in recent Florida legal history: "Simpson has devoted his life to boating safety. He has earned a reputation as one of south Florida's safest and most responsible boaters and serves on a boating safety council." He serves. On a boating safety council. The statement expressed confidence that prosecutors would decline to file formal charges.
The Witnesses, the Video, and What Comes Next
The sheriff's report says the cellphone footage specifically shows Simpson "swimming rapidly away from the Brownie after it was shut off." That is a specific detail that Srebnick's account does not really address so much as redirect around.
Srebnick asserted that "numerous eyewitnesses on two separate boats" corroborate Simpson's account and contradicted the accusers. He also accused the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office of arresting Simpson without interviewing the exculpatory witnesses, which, if true, would be a legitimate procedural concern. The Sheriff's Office has not publicly responded to that specific allegation, according to The Guardian's reporting.
State prosecutors will now decide whether to formally charge Simpson. If they do, the case will hinge substantially on what that video actually shows and what those witnesses actually say. Courts being courts, that could take a while. In the meantime, Simpson is out on bond and presumably not going near anyone's diving equipment.
The Dingo Take
You are supposed to read this story and conclude that it falls in some legal gray zone. That reasonable people can watch someone allegedly announce "I'll turn the Brownie off if I want to" and then turn it off while an 18-year-old is breathing through it underwater, and come away saying, well, both sides have a point. You are not supposed to conclude that. An attempted felony murder charge exists for a reason, and "I'll turn the Brownie off if I want to" is not a sentence that sounds like an accident.
The defense argument is that this was a misunderstanding, that video proves it, and that Simpson is actually a devoted boating safety advocate who calmly putt-putted away rather than make things worse. Maybe that's all true. The legal system will sort it out. But the phrase "putt-putted away" appearing in a court document as evidence of responsible behavior, in a case where a teenager came up from the ocean gasping for air, is a sentence that was written by a real attorney in a real attempt to help a real client. Chew on that.
Florida has given us a lot. It has given us python hunters, bath salts, election chaos, and roughly one third of all headlines that begin with "Florida Man." But this one hits different. This is a man who allegedly almost killed a teenager over a lobster spot, whose lawyer describes him as one of South Florida's most responsible boaters, who sits on an actual boating safety council. Florida did not invent irony. Florida just keeps perfecting it.
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