The man accused of trying to drown “90 Day Fiancé” alum Caroline Schwitzky testified in his own defense March 11, rebutting the account Schwitzky gave one day earlier.
Cole Goldberg, 26, is charged with attempted murder and domestic battery by strangulation for holding Schwitzky, his then-girlfriend, under water at the 2022 Boca Bash. His attorneys say he was drowning and grabbed her shoulder as an involuntary survival reflex, with no intention to harm her. Several witnesses, strangers to both Schwitzky and Goldberg, told investigators the opposite is true.
Testifying for more than an hour, Goldberg described an afternoon at Lake Boca Raton that gradually unraveled — not because of him, he said, but because of a petty argument, a drunk stranger and a chaotic party that was already spilling out of control.
He, like Schwitzky, recalled a moment when he tossed several drink cans to her and other young women jumping on a floating trampoline. Schwitzky said the can struck her in the face, hurting and humiliating her. Goldberg was unapologetic and laughed while she screamed at him, she said, igniting the first of several arguments which culminated in their eventual break-up.
By Goldberg’s retelling, the drink merely slipped through her fingers. Schwitzky did grow angry, he said, but not for the reason she described. He said she accused him of throwing drinks at other girls to get their attention.
“I didn’t understand. I was like, ‘They’re literally asking me for a drink,’ ” he said. “That was pretty much it.”
The pair moved on to another boat.
The more significant incident, in his mind, involved an encounter with a stranger about 10 minutes later. A drunk young man approached a dancing Schwitzky from behind and slapped her butt, Goldberg said.
She was furious and began screaming at the stranger while the people around them watched. Goldberg said he tried to calm her down, and that she turned her anger on him for not physically confronting the man.
He said it took about 10 minutes for the situation to settle. They then moved to another boat, where Goldberg said he hugged and comforted Schwitzky.
Schwitzky described that moment differently. She said he held her prisoner while she fumed, ignoring her demands that they return to the mainland. Fed up, she said she told him their relationship was over, broke free from his grasp and leapt into the water to return to shore alone.
Goldberg said none of that was true. According to him, Schwitzky calmed down in his arms and said nothing about the status of their relationship. Shortly after, the boat’s captain told them they needed to leave, because there weren’t enough life jackets on board.
“She starts getting very irrational,” Goldberg said. “She starts panicking.”
Goldberg said she suggested the pair swim to shore, which he thought was a terrible idea. They were in unfamiliar waters, he said, with boats passing in all directions. They’d been drinking all day.
“I was saying ‘Don’t jump in. Don’t jump in,’ ” he said. “She eventually decided to jump in.”
As she did, Goldberg said the captain who’d ordered them to leave discovered two more life jackets, greenlighting their stay aboard his boat. Goldberg said he jumped into the water to tell Schwitzky.
Goldberg tells judge: ‘I thought I was going to die’
He was a decent swimmer, he said, but the current in the Intracoastal was strong, and he was tired from the day’s events. Halfway to her, he said the lower half of his body started to sink. He began to panic.
“I see stars. I was swallowing water,” he said. “I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know what was going on.”
He thought he was going to die, he said, echoing the words Schwitzky said the day before. He came within reach of Schwitzky, he said, and grabbed her shoulders — not her throat.
What felt to Schwitzky “like a lifetime” seemed, to him, only a second. As he regained his composure, he said he became aware of the strangers in a nearby boat, screaming at him for what he’d done.
He tried to explain, he said. She was his girlfriend, he told them. He loved her; he had no reason to hurt her.
He told no one that he’d had trouble swimming until later, when questioned by investigators.
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boyfriend of ’90 Day Fiancé’ alum tells judge he was the one drowning
Reporting by Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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