LIDO KEY, Fla. – Newly released 911 calls paint a frantic and tragic picture of the moments immediately following a jet ski collision off the coast of Lido Key that claimed the life of a promising 19-year-old Baltimore Orioles minor league player. The calls, filled with panicked voices and desperate pleas for help, reveal the chaos and horror witnessed by beachgoers as they rushed to aid the victims.
Luis Guevara, an infielder for the Orioles’ Florida Complex League team, was killed in the Sunday evening crash. The incident also left another rider, identified as Keiver Jose Guillen Reatiga, with significant injuries. Two other individuals, fellow Orioles minor league players Miguel Rodriguez and Jesus Palacios, were on the second jet ski and sustained minor injuries.
“We saw the two jet skis hit each other, they collided, and the guy, he is unresponsive,” one caller breathlessly told a 911 dispatcher. Another caller, her voice trembling, said, “There’s a bunch of people just trying to help him out because he’s not breathing at all. Oh my God, he’s bleeding out of his mouth.”
According to a report from the Sarasota Police Department, Rodriguez and Palacios told officers that their jet ski launched into the air after hitting a wave, causing them to lose control and bail. Their unmanned watercraft then struck the jet ski carrying Guevara and Reatiga.
Good Samaritans on the beach pulled the injured men from the water and administered CPR to Guevara before emergency services arrived. “They literally jumped head-on collision with the jet ski,” a witness described in one of the 911 calls. “Two jet skis, head-on collision, and they ran over the one guy’s head.”
Guevara, a native of Venezuela, was in his first year playing baseball in the United States. The Baltimore Orioles organization expressed its sorrow in a statement. “Luis was a beloved member of our organization, and we are devastated following his tragic passing,” said Orioles Executive Vice President and General Manager Mike Elias. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and teammates.”
Reatiga was transported to a local hospital with facial fractures and lung damage.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is leading the investigation into the fatal crash. Officials have not yet announced if any charges will be filed. The incident has cast a somber shadow over the local community and the world of professional baseball, highlighting the potential dangers of recreational watercraft.
