Story Archive

Keys In The Keys

Thomas Swindal, 53, and his brother Kenneth were fishing off the Florida Keys when they found a brick of what they believed to be cocaine floating in the water. They picked it up and tossed it in the bait well, and kept fishing. Kenneth told detectives that he later saw Thomas open the package and snort some of the contents. Later, he says, Thomas started running around the boat throwing things in the water — including their cell phone, and the boat’s engine, leaving them adrift with no communications. Kenneth finally managed to signal a nearby vessel and get help, but Thomas later died in the hospital. The sheriff’s office offered the following advice: Never bring aboard your boat “any object [you] suspect to be contraband.” And, “it certainly is never safe to ingest any substance if you do not know what the substance is or what the potency of the substance might be.” (MS/Florida Keys Keynoter) ...You’d have to be high to ignore advice like that.