Man charged with attempted murder in alleged lobster diving incident

A former Florida boating safety task force member was charged with attempted second-degree murder after he allegedly turned off the air supply of a submerged teenage lobster diver, authorities said.

Michael Joseph Simpson, Jr., 51, of Miami Beach, was arrested this week after being accused of initiating a confrontation July 29 over a lobster diving location he allegedly claimed was his spot, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office arrest affidavit.

The captain of a lobster diving boat, Steven Del Sol, told officials that his vessel was anchored off Fisher Island when Simpson's Conch-brand boat allegedly approached him at high speed and began circling his boat, the arrest affidavit said.

A teenage diver from Del Sol's boat was already underwater hunting for spiny lobsters, according to the arrest affidavit. The teen was using an apparatus called a third lung, which floats on the water's surface and pumps air to divers through a breathing hose, the affidavit said.

After Simpson anchored his boat 10 feet from Del Sol's vessel, "a verbal dispute ensued after the occupants of the Conch vessel claimed that Mr. Del Sol was in their spot, despite Mr. Del Sol stating he had already anchored before their arrival," according to the affidavit.

As the confrontation escalated, a second boat connected to Simpson, a 39-foot Contender vessel, arrived on scene with a group of lobster divers and also anchored 10 feet from Del Sol's vessel, the arrest affidavit alleges.

Del Sol told police he had to warn a juvenile diver from the Contender boat to stay away from the third lung because there was a diver in the water using it, the arrest affidavit said.

Del Sol alleged that Simpson "became irate and stated, 'I'll turn the Brownie [third lung] off if I want to!" according to the affidavit.

Del Sol and other witnesses on his boat, including the parents of the teenager in the water, observed Simpson allegedly "swim over to the Brownie air supply unit and intentionally turn it off, cutting the victims' air supply," the arrest affidavit states.

"Occupants on the vessel then began to yell, 'We have a diver down there you [expletive]!" according to the affidavit.

One of the people onboard Del Sol's boat "provided cell phone pictures and video footage of the incident. Video footage shows the [defendant] swimming rapidly away from the mentioned Brownie after it was shut off," the affidavit said.

Video that the teen lobster diver's family shared with ABC Miami affiliate WSVN allegedly shows Simpson swimming away from the third lung and back to the Contender vessel as people on Del Sol's boat began yelling and cursing at him.

Del Sol told officials that as he dove into the water to rescue the teen diver, Simpson fled the scene, the affidavit states.

The teen was tangled in his air supply hose and the anchor line from Del Sol's boat when he was pulled from the water and was "gasping for air, appeared disoriented, and did not understand what had occurred" when he surfaced, Del Sol told authorities, according to the arrest affidavit.

Simpson was identified by the occupants aboard Del Sol's boat through a photographic lineup, according to the affidavit. Simpson voluntarily surrendered to police on Aug. 4., six days after the alleged incident.

Simpson was initially arrested on a felony charge of first-degree attempted murder. During a bond hearing on Wednesday, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer reduced the count to second-degree attempted murder after conferring with a prosecutor and Simpson's attorney.

"This is a very serious matter that somebody would try to turn off someone's air tank while they're swimming, diving," Glazer said as she set Simpson's bond at $10,000.

The Miami-Dade County Office of the Mayor released a statement confirming that Simpson is a former government-appointed member of the Miami-Dade Boater Safety and Bay Education Task Force.

"The County's Boater Safety and Bay Education Task Force was created with one goal: to make our waterways safer," the statement said. "The conduct alleged in this case against Michael Joseph Simpson is contrary to that mission."

"Please allow both sides to come out," Simpson told reporters after posting bond and being released from jail.

Simpson's lawyer, Howard Srebnick, said his client will plead not guilty.

"He is not guilty. We have eyewitnesses that will prove he's not guilty," Srebnick told WSVN. "We look forward to getting this charge resolved quickly."

"He never touched the tank, and so this claim he had something to do with the tank turning off is just false," Srebnick added.