KEY WEST, Fla. — A boat captain already facing state charges after a deadly parasailing accident in the Florida Keys is now in federal legal peril more than three years later.
Prosecutors announced Monday that 52-year-old Daniel Gavin Couch was indicted by a Key West federal grand jury on a seaman’s manslaughter charge in connection with the May 30, 2022 incident at the Old Seven Mile Bridge.
The accident claimed the life of Supraja Alaparthi, 33, of Schaumburg, Illinois, who authorities said was visiting the Florida Keys and on the M/V AIRBORNE vessel along with eight others from the Chicago suburb, including her 10-year-old son and her 7-year-old nephew.
According to a report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “The captain cut the line tethered to the three victims” because the parasail was “pegging,” a phrase used to describe when a parasail turns into a sail in high winds and could potentially drag the boat.
Alaparthi and the two children were dropped and “dragged through the water by the inflated parasail...through and across the surface of the water” before colliding with the bridge, the report states.
Couch, then 49, worked for Lighthouse Parasail Inc., which is based in Marathon and had departed from Captain Pip’s Marina & Hideaway that day.
According to a state arrest warrant, Couch violated several commercial parasailing statutes.
Grand jurors concluded that Couch “engaged in misconduct, negligence, or inattention to his duties as captain.”
Couch could get a $250,000 fine and spend up to a decade in federal prison if convicted.
Monroe County court records show his state case is still pending, with a hearing scheduled for Sept. 9.
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