Officials: Florida man tries to steal yacht, fails and partially sinks it

A man attempted to make off with a yacht from the Miami Beach Marina on Sunday, but didn’t get too far as he ran into other boats and partially sank the boat he was in before swimming away.

CBS Miami reports the attempted theft occurred around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday when a man "jumped (on the yacht)" and tried to take off with the 80-foot Hatteras. Jimmy Terry was sleeping in one of the boats docked in the marina and told CBS Miami that the yacht was going all over the place.

“It was going forwards and backwards, and he was going bananas trying to get out,” he said. “I started screaming ‘help, help, help anybody help’ because the guy was going crazy. The guy was a freakin’ lunatic. I just thank God he didn’t crash into my boat, really, I mean I got damage but not as much as there could have been. My life was in jeopardy.”

According to CBS Miami, members of Miami Fire Rescue arrived and the man jumped overboard and swam off with Coast Guard crew members unable to locate him. The attempted theft left the initial yacht partially sunk, but officials said another yacht was found with a similar theft attempt and was also partially sunk.

CBS Miami reports the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said on Monday that 10 vessels were damaged and Robert Dube of the FWC said 75 percent of the Mimi was submerged and leaking fuel. Police said the two thefts were related with CBS Miami adding that the initial yacht suffered a rupture in the $3.2 million yacht’s hull.

Read more at CBS Miami.

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