Man charged with attempted murder after allegedly cutting diver's air supply near Fisher Island

During Florida’s annual lobster mini-season, a confrontation erupted near Fisher Island when Michael Joseph Simpson allegedly claimed a diving location as his own and threatened a nearby boat. Prosecutors allege that after circling the vessel, Simpson entered the water and deliberately disabled the surface-supplied air system used by an 18-year-old diver, causing the diver to surface gasping for breath but without serious injury.

Witnesses reportedly shouted at Simpson as the incident unfolded, and the diver’s boat owner helped bring him to the surface. Simpson fled the scene before deputies arrived, but later turned himself in at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade County, where he was booked on an attempted-murder charge with a $10,000 bond. His attorney, Howard Srebnick, claims investigators ignored exculpatory evidence, citing video that allegedly shows Simpson away from the air line and witnesses who support his account. The lawyer urges the State Attorney’s Office to review the evidence and dismiss the charges.