Inset: Daniel Grubert (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The area around Johns Pass near Madeira Beach, Fla., where Daniel Grubert allegedly injured two children while riding and racing a jet ski (Google Maps).
A New York man who was racing a friend on a jet ski in Florida injured two children, ages 7 and 8, after ditching his rented Yamaha WaveRunner and letting it crash into another rider who had the kids with him, cops say.
Daniel Grubert, 48, is charged with two counts of BUI causing serious bodily injury and one count of reckless operation of a vessel in connection with the Sunday afternoon incident, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
The crash occurred at around 2:30 p.m. while Grubert, who is from Piermont, N.Y., was allegedly operating a rented 2024 Yamaha WaveRunner near Johns Pass in Madeira Beach.
Grubert claimed he consumed just one can of Twisted Tea Hard Iced Tea, an alcoholic beverage with 5% ABV, before the incident happened, according to his arrest affidavit, which was obtained by Law&Crime on Monday.
“He admitted to drinking a single Twisted Tea,” the affidavit says.
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Grubert is accused of crashing into another rented Yamaha WaveRunner operated by 45-year-old Walter Wodzien, who had the two child victims riding with him at the time. “All three were ejected from the jet ski,” according to police.
“Grubert was racing another jet ski, was not looking ahead of him, and took his eyes off his direction of travel,” the sheriff’s office says in a press release. “Grubert turned around, realized a crash was about to occur, and jumped off the WaveRunner.”
According to the affidavit, Grubert was racing an acquaintance of his on another Yamaha and “watching the friend behind him.” When he looked forward, Grubert allegedly saw Wodzien’s jet ski in front of him.
“[Grubert] jumped off … while at speed, leaving his jet ski to run unmanned as it ran into the victim’s jet ski,” the affidavit says.
The Madeira Beach Fire Department recovered the victims from the water and transported the two kids to a local hospital. One of the children suffered life-threatening injuries and a “near drowning,” while the other suffered non-life-threatening injuries and Wodzien was not injured, per the affidavit.
Investigators with the Pinellas County Marine Unit and the Major Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) probed the incident and found that Grubert showed “signs of impairment” — including an odor of alcohol on his breath, red eyes and “thick speech,” the affidavit says.
Grubert allegedly “performed poorly” when given a series of field sobriety tests and was arrested at the scene. Online records show that he was still behind bars Monday after being booked at the Pinellas County Jail.
