A Miami Beach man accused of shutting off a teen diver’s air supply during an argument over a dive spot near Fisher Island is speaking out to deny the allegations.
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Michael Joseph Simpson, 51, is facing an attempted murder charge in the July 29 incident.
Authorities said the 18-year-old was brought by boat to a lobster diving spot for lobster mini season when another boat arrived.
An argument unfolded between people on the two boats over the diving spot and that’s when Simpson is accused of turning off the teen’s air supply as he was in the water.
But speaking at his attorney’s office in Wynwood on Friday, Simpson disputed the allegations.
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Simpson said a man on the other boat was the one who became aggressive and pulled the air supply device, called a Brownie, toward his boat.
“He’s standing on top of the bow, he pulls, he gives the Brownie a jerk, when he gives the Brownie a jerk, the Brownie does a little motion, and the Brownie, everybody needs to understand, this is just a motor with gasoline, this is not an air tank, so it’s a motor with gasoline, he pulls it and the machine turns off. He kind of does this shuffle, he slips, he falls on the edge of the boat and falls into the water,” Simpson said.
Video showed Simpson speaking with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers after the incident, and he said they cleared him of wrongdoing.
He was arrested days after the incident, and has been released on bond.
Simpson was a volunteer member of the Miami-Dade County Boater Safety and Bay Education Task Force, which was a temporary advisory group that “convened in April 2025 to develop recommendations to help improve boating safety standards,” the mayor’s office said in a statement to NBC6. The task force concluded in this past May.
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