Adam Linhardt, Public Information Officer for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.
A storm came through in the early morning hours in Islamorada.
Linhardt said, “Islamorada had a lot of large trees down, and power outages and things of that nature kind of throughout that area. I know the Florida Keys Electric Co Op was out working near the 89 mile marker to get power back on. Of course, we were out with our partners to make sure that the roads were getting cleared. We did have some blockages on US 1 where some trees and other stuff had just been blown across the road. So it got a little nuts out there. But folks down here in the Keys, I think, we’re pretty used to that. It made for an interesting night and we got some much needed rain. Thankfully, I was not informed of anybody hurt or anything like that. So we were able to get things back to normal relatively quickly.”
A traffic advisory for the Lower Keys warned of a potential traffic hazard last week near mile marker 21.
Lindhardt sasid, “Sheriff Rick Ramsey really wants to let folks know that there’s some construction and some holes in the road for lack of a better term, where they’re scraping some asphalt. Anybody who’s driven through there on a daily basis probably knows what I’m talking about. That particular concern, everybody should slow down through there, you don’t want to damage your vehicle, but particularly gets concerned for folks on motorcycles, people in smaller vehicles, motorcycles there. If you hit that area, going at speed, you should be slowing down because it’s a construction zone anyway. But it could be a potentially dangerous situation. So if you’re cruising through that area, around the Cudjoe area. You’ll see the construction. If you’re driving through the Lower Keys, and you’re not down there a lot, slow down through there because that particular area can be dangerous, particularly if you’re going northbound and you don’t catch it, most of it’s in the southbound lane, somebody could hit that who’s not aware of it, maybe bounce in your lane. So just drive defensively know what’s there. Take it easy. I know the sheriff has been in contact with FDOT, just trying to get this resolved as quickly as possible. If you’re going through that area, take it easy and know it’s there and help us spread the word.”
A man was arrested for attempted murder in Olmsted, Ohio, recently, in a case that connected to the Keys.
Linhardt said, “This is a very severe, obviously very severe domestic violence case. This happened at a campground, down here on Stock Island in the Lower Keys back in December. If there’s a crime committed, we are very, very instrumental in making sure that folks are brought to justice. We investigate these things thoroughly. This was one of those cases where we did do some investigation, go back, really talk to the victim and everybody else, collect all the evidence that we could. This was a very violent case where this woman could have lost her life, given the fact that she was strangled multiple times, the suspect in this case, and the way he was striking her. Luckily, she was able to collect some audio recordings of the things he was saying to her, not just during this incident, but through the course, it happened over an extended time. It was clear that she was interpreting his threats very, very clearly, very accurately. This gentleman is going to be down here, I use the term gentleman loosely, but he’s going to be facing the most serious of charges when it comes to this case. Thankfully, the woman, as far as I know, the victim, in this case is okay at the moment, she didn’t suffer any life threatening injuries, this occurred back in December of 2023. But this was certainly one of those cases that could have went the other way, she could have fallen a little bit differently. Reading the reports and talking to folks on this one, it’s very sad case and I know that the State Attorney’s Office, and Dennis Ward and his team are going to be taking this this one particularly seriously.”
A recent shark bite in the Keys made national news when an adult male was reportedly bitten on the leg by a shark Monday after spear fishing off the reef of Key West.
Linhardt said, “This is a great example of somebody who could have possibly lost their life. I don’t know the specifics of all that the medical condition, but we know that it was serious. From what I’ve been told about this that he was bitten it sounds like more than once and there’s some speculation as to what kind of shark it was, I think some media in Miami had reported this gentleman was saying that it was most likely a bull shark, that seems that seems likely to those of us who know about bull sharks and their behavior. I’ve been down here for nearly two decades and this was a little bit different in terms of him getting, in my experience, reading the stories reporting on these stories and sharing them that he was he was bitten more than once, but it sounds like as many as two or three times. So this was a fairly aggressive shark, that wanted that fish, it sounds like that he was taking back to the boat while he was spear fishing, and the fact that he was able to get back on his boat, and we were able to get to him quickly and get him airlifted is a small miracle. I also want to give a shout out to the our partners in Trauma Star, the FWC and the Coast Guard, who are always on top of this sort of thing and helping us and making sure if we’re not there, they’re there. We really try to help each other out and this was a great, great testament to that cooperation and making sure that this person got the help that they needed as fast as they possibly could. It sounds like that he’s going to be okay. But again, the extent of his injuries and the condition of his leg and so forth, I’m not sure. But he seemed to be like in good spirits on TV anyway.”
Wisteria Island and Fleming Key was the site of another domestic situation recently that involved a man and woman and knife came into the altercation.
Linhardt said it was “a domestic related argument and the defendant, the suspect, in this case, grabbed a knife, and was threatening himself, threatening her and saying, all sorts of things in terms of their relationship, this, that and the other and how he was going to hurt her if she didn’t change and she was able to, fortunately to disarm him, she was cut in that process and able to get away. But again, this was I believe, a 40 year old suspect, 31 year old female victim on a boat. Coast Guard is great in that area. They respond so quickly. But in this case, the woman was able to call 911 Key West police, our partners there were are on the spot. Then because this happened out there on the water, jurisdictionally we took over the case and were able to arrest this suspect very, very quickly. Nobody was seriously hurt. There were some injuries. Obviously we had a knife involved. But much like the case at the campground from last December, this could have been far more serious and a testament to just how serious we all need to take domestic violence cases and listen to folks around us who may be in a relationship and are reaching out. Unfortunately we see this all too often.”
A woman from Big Pine Key is facing child neglect charges after being intoxicated and potentially involved in a crash. She was found near a residence holding her baby and the sheriff’s office and Florida Department of Children and Families got involved.
Linhardt said, “This was a particularly sad case. This happened on Friday, five o’clock Friday evening. On Ramrod Key and it was a situation where there was a medical emergency on Ramrod, we got out there found this woman holding a small child, a baby on the front lawn of her residence, she appeared very intoxicated, was not making any sense, the baby appeared to be hungry, neglected. Now there was a vehicle nearby that she appeared to be driving or was associated with, that was in a crash and had a flat tire. So all these things converged. Obviously, our initial concern was the safety of everybody, that child being paramount, got that child in our custody. We fed the child, shout out to our deputies on the scene who made sure that that baby was safe and fed and had plenty of fluids and water and Florida Department of Children and Families was notified to investigate that whole side of this sad case even further, that child was turned over immediately to the custody of a responsible family member who can care for the child. So that is the silver lining good news with this. But obviously the bad news being we have a female suspect who needs some help and put a child in a very bad way. Obviously, the DCF is going to sort that out along with the state’s attorney’s office. We were able to make sure people got safe, including this woman, got her out of there, got her in a safe spot where she needs to be and sober up. Again, it’s a sad commentary. But luckily, we were able to get there quickly, and make sure that nobody was hurt severely.”