Fatal parasailing crash in Florida Keys heads to federal trial
A federal jury began weighing the death of Supraja Alaparthi, killed when a Keys parasail line snapped in a thunderstorm and slammed her into a bridge.
A federal jury began deliberating the Florida Keys parasailing death of 33-year-old Supraja Alaparthi of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, putting the 2022 crash under renewed scrutiny in Monroe County waters. Alaparthi’s son and nephew were injured in the same accident, which has become a test of how much protection tourists can expect from parasailing operators when weather turns fast.
The crash happened May 30, 2022, shortly before 5:30 p.m., when the parasailers were aloft and the vessel’s tow line snapped during a thunderstorm. Wind drove the group into a bridge, and Alaparthi was later pronounced dead at a nearby restaurant that rescuers used as a staging area. Later coverage identified the boat captain as Daniel Couch, also known as Daniel Gavin Couch, a Florida Keys captain, and said he cut the parasailing cable tethering the group to the vessel.
The case moved deeper into federal court after a grand jury charged Couch in April with voluntary manslaughter and seaman’s manslaughter. The charges carried maximum sentences of 15 years and 10 years, respectively. By August 2025, federal charges were already in place, and the July 30, 2026 trial marked a new stage in a case that began as a chaotic rescue and has become a legal examination of decisions made offshore.
The family also sued the parasail boat’s operator in June 2022, later identified in coverage as Lighthouse Parasail. A lawyer for the family called the crash “absolute negligence” and said it violated state statute. That allegation now sits alongside the criminal case, raising questions about whether the operator, captain and equipment decisions met the standard expected on a busy stretch of Monroe County water.
For local readers, the stakes go beyond one fatal ride. Parasailing, boating, diving and snorkeling are central to the Keys economy, and each depends on crews making split-second calls as storms build over narrow channels and bridges. The trial could help define how much responsibility operators carry when a day on the water turns deadly, and whether current safety practices are enough to protect passengers in one of Florida’s most weather-sensitive tourism markets.
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