MIAMI — A California family has hired a legal team and is speaking out after a Florida Everglades airboat tour they were on ended in a collision with another airboat last week, leaving them with serious injuries.
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.
Pershonda Tolson, 41, suffered a severe concussion, multiple fractures and other serious injuries. David Tolson, 39, suffered five broken ribs and a broken arm, the family lawyers said.
Miguel Dominguez, of the Atlanta-based Dominguez Law Firm, and Louis DeFreitas, of the Florida-based Osborne & Francis Law Firm, are representing the family.
DeFreitas told reporters that he and Dominguez are cooperating with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), which is leading the investigation, to gather details and information for their own investigation so they can pursue claims for the injuries they say their clients suffered.
“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.
Dominguez continued, opening the floor up to Tolson, who said he was “in a great deal of pain” and “working through a lot of the nuances” that come with surviving an accident of this degree.
“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
“We were out here for the football tournament, we were celebrating how our oldest son and his teammates were fighting through a very tough season, making and earning their right to play in a national title game,” he said. “So, the excitement was extremely high leading up to this event.”
Tolson 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.
“Let’s do something here that we can’t do at home and one of the things that came up was the airboat tour,” he explained.
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.
On the day of the tour, everyone was “extremely excited” and “things started out great,” Tolson said.
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.
David Tolson
Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours responded to CBS News Miami’s request for comment on the day after the crash, saying that they regret the collision and are cooperating with authorities in the investigation.
“All of us at Wooten’s offer our sincere sympathies to everyone involved, and wish them a speedy recovery,” the company stated.
Adding to his point, DeFreitas said they are not currently accusing Wooten’s of running a “shoddy operation” because they do not have any information that may suggest that; however, he did call the situation “a case of general negligence.”
“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 circumstances of the crash are still under investigation.
The moments after the airboats crashed
David Tolson shared how he felt the moments after he and others were thrown into the Everglades swap.
He said as a father and husband, he felt his protective instincts kick in and that he wanted to do everything he can to help his family and those around him.
“It was very, very scary just not knowing the depths and the severity of the incident,” Tolson said.
He said if he could sum up the emotions he felt at the time, he said helplessness struck him the most.
“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.”
At this time, Tolson and his family will continue staying in Fort Myers until they know they’re medically cleared to travel again, hoping to return to California shortly after Christmas. However, Dominguez told reporters that he remains cautious about the family traveling at this time due to the severity of Pershonda Tolson’s injuries.
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.
