Keys deputies, Coast Guard called to Everglades to break up fighting boaters

U.S. Coast Guard crews and Florida Keys deputies were called to an island off the Everglades to break up a violent fight between a man and woman on a sailboat Monday night, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said.

Read more After 5 years, this Spanish tapas restaurant and bar is closing on Miami Beach

Coast Guard crews requested help from deputies around 8:15 p.m. about the fight off Cape Sable near mainland Monroe County.

Norreal Patrice Lee, 42, hired captain Josh Huckabee Caldwell, 51, to pilot her 30- to 35-foot sailboat through the Keys, the sheriff’s office said. Over the course of the hours-long journey, they began arguing and then physically fighting, Adam Linhardt, sheriff’s office spokesman, said.

Read more Haiti’s richest man built an empire — and hid his wealth. He has died at 91

The fight was so violent that each one of them punched, scratched, bit and slapped the other, Linhardt said. Caldwell, from Washington, North Carolina, and Lee, from Orlando, each had non-life-threatening injuries “consistent with being in such a fight,” Linhardt said in a statement.

Both were jailed on misdemeanor battery charges and have since been released. Information on their respective bonds and legal counsel was not immediately available.

Read more Roommate wouldn’t respond to texts, so he hid a camera, South Miami police say

Both were taken to jail.