Miami Radio: DJ Involved In Deadly Boating Accident

DJ Laz

South Florida radio personality DJ Laz , was at the helm of his boat when a man trying to help push it off a sandbar was killed after getting tangled in the motor, according to The Miami Herald.

Law enforcement identified the dead man as Ernesto Hernandez, 23, and said he was on another pleasure craft behind Key Biscayne’s old Nixon estate, when he noticed a group trying to push DJ Laz’s 40-foot Hydra Sport open fisherman into deeper water.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating the incident and said the local celebrity, whose real name is Lazaro Mendez, has been cooperating.

FWC Spokesman Jorge Pino said officers are looking into whether alcohol played a part in the accident.


Mendez, 42, is a Cuban-American rapper and DJ from Miami who gained popularity as a weekday morning radio host for more than two decades. The DJ Laz Morning Show was also heard in Los Angeles. His albums have reached the Billboard charts, and his single Journey Into Bass reached number 56 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 2008.

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He hosted the weekday morning "DJ Laz Morning Show" in Miami on WPOW 96.5 FM, branded "Power 96," for 22 years until he left the company in April 2012.

Beginning July 4, 2012, the new DJ Laz Morning Show began after arbitration on the newly reformatted WRMA DJ106.7 a Bilingual Dance/Rhythmic formatted station.  They parted company last December. Click Here.