FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Fort Lauderdale police said their marine unit briefly stopped two teenage sisters on a personal watercraft before a crash that killed one of them earlier this week.
The 13-year-old, Rachel Nisanov, died Tuesday afternoon when the personal watercraft she was riding with her 16-year-old sister, Aviva, struck a concrete dock near Northeast 24th Court in the Intracoastal Waterway.
Rachel suffered blunt force injuries, according to the Broward County Medical Examiner. Aviva remains in critical condition at Broward Health Medical Center.
Police said the encounter occurred while officers were en route to a separate call.
The unit stopped the jet ski after witnessing a minor violation and spoke briefly with the occupants about safety.
Authorities described the stop as “brief and proactive in nature,” and no written report or body camera footage was recorded because the officers were responding to a separate incident.
Family members said the sisters, who are from New York, were enjoying a vacation in South Florida when the tragedy occurred.
Rachel’s funeral was held Wednesday night in New York, where her father, Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov, said the family’s life was upended by “just a few moments out on the water.”
“You have no idea how everything turned upside down,” he told mourners gathered at the Bukharian Jewish Community Center in Queens. Friends and relatives remembered Rachel’s radiant smile, while her brothers spoke of wishing for “just one more minute” with their youngest sister.
Rachel’s body was flown from New York to Israel for burial.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission continues to investigate the incident.
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