David Tolson, his wife Pershonda, one of their sons and other family members were on one of the airboats during the Dec. 15 collision near Tamiami Trail. At least 16 people were hospitalized as a result of the incident. The family, alongside their lawyers, said in a press conference held Wednesday in Fort Myers that they suffered several injuries from the crash.
Miguel Dominguez, of the Atlanta-based Dominguez Law Firm, and Louis DeFreitas, of the Florida-based Osborne & Francis Law Firm, are representing the family.
"We will take the appropriate steps to make sure that justice in this case is served on behalf of all of our clients and that they are fairly and justly compensated for what they have endured, lost or has been taken from them, and we look forward to moving forward in trying to prosecute our clients' cases," DeFreitas said.
"I am working through this slowly but surely, trying to navigate all of the obstacles that come with this type of incident and obviously will try to continue to be the head of my family in the midst of it, especially during the holiday season," Tolson said. "It's definitely challenging but I am allowing my medical team and our legal team help us navigate through this. So we are beginning to work our way through this."
"Let's do something for the boys"
David and Pershonda Tolson and their children were visiting Naples, Florida, from Antioch, California, last week for a football and cheer event. Tolson said that he was talking with his wife about the day leading up to the crash, saying that they were "having such a great time" before things took a turn for the worse.
David Tolson with his wife Pershonda and two children. David TolsonTolson continued, saying that though his son's team didn't make it to the title round, they still had time in Florida. So, the parents got together to figure out how to spend the rest of their time in the Sunshine State.
The Tolsons, along with other California families who were participating in the same sporting event, opted to take a tour with Wooten's Everglades Airboat Tours in Ochopee, a town just south of Naples, after another parent researched different touring companies in the area.
Tragedy strikes in the Florida Everglades
During the tour, the airboat the Tolsons and other families were riding on collided with another airboat, injuring nearly two dozen people and sending 16 of them, including Pershonda Tolson, to local hospitals with serious injuries. David Tolson said he, his family and others were all thrown into the water during the crash.
Pershonda Tolson was just recently released from the hospital and is with her family at a Fort Myers hotel. The couple's three-year-old nephew also suffered a large gash on the top of his head that required 30 staples to close, according to the family attorneys.
The Tolson family. David Tolson"All of us at Wooten's offer our sincere sympathies to everyone involved, and wish them a speedy recovery," the company stated.
"I mean, it happened on airboats and both of the airboats that were operated by the same group," he said. "So, it's not an accusation that their record is poor. It's just that in this particular incident, we believe that negligence, serious negligence, was involved."
The moments after the airboats crashed
David Tolson shared how he felt the moments after he and others were thrown into the Everglades swap.
"It was very, very scary just not knowing the depths and the severity of the incident," Tolson said.
"Because my job as their father and her husband, and as the uncle who was present for my nephews in the absence of my brother at that moment, I couldn't prevent this," Tolson said. "I couldn't help them. I was helpless. Any father can tell you that feeling is probably one of the worst feelings you can feel as a man not to be able to protect your family. That was challenging, to say the least."
This is the third airboat crash this year in the Everglades in 2024. In January, an airboat crash in Southwest Miami-Dade left at least a dozen people with minor injuries. Two months later, an airboat operator was arrested for operating a vessel without a license after he flipped a vessel carrying 10 people through the Everglades in western Miami-Dade County.
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