MIAMI – Miami-Dade County police divers are looking for the body of a man who fell off his WaveRunner while riding in a lake on the Fourth of July but never resurfaced.
Family members identified the man as 49-year-old Adam Quiles, a father of three who works as a federal corrections officer.
"We saw him struggling and it was pretty far out," said Brandon Quiles, one of Adam's son. "I couldn't swim to him."
Quiles said his father fell into the water after riding in a lake along Northwest 50th Court about 7 p.m. Thursday.
"My sister's screaming, 'Brandon! Brandon! Something's wrong, he's struggling,' because he put his hands up and that's when he called my name, 'Brandon! Brandon!' and then I look over and he's going in and under, and I swam fast but it wasn't fast enough," said Brandon Quiles. "I thought he was going to be okay. I started swimming as fast as I can, and I'm like, 'Oh, he's going to go to Jess. He's going to hold on.' He just went under and I couldn't believe it."
Quiles said his sister and mother think his father slipped off, while other said it looked like he hopped off the WaveRunner.
"He's underwater. I already accepted the fact that he's dead. My mom and sister still think he's going to be okay, but he's been under more than 10 hours," he added. "He was the best dad. He was nice to everyone."
Quiles was not wearing a life jacket, police said. His son Brandon said he didn't have any health problems and jogged every day.