Report: Jose Fernandez at Fault For Fatal Boat Crash [READ]

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A report released March 16 by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said that former Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez was at fault for the fatal boat crash September 25, 2016.

The crash claimed the lives of Fernandez and his two friends, Eduardo Rivero and Emilio Macias.

The report stated that Fernandez was the one who was responsible for all of the deaths in the incident, and committed two felonies in doing so. It says that the boat was traveling at about 65 miles per hour before making impact with a line of large rocks and boulders. A toxicology report found Fernandez to have a blood alcohol level of 0.147 percent along with the presence of cocaine in his blood.

The FFWCC continued in its 46-page finding that Fernandez operated the boat in a “reckless manner at an extremely high rate of speed in the darkness of the night in an area with known navigational hazards.”

Read the full document from the agency below:

Jose Fernandez Accident Report FWC by Grant Stern on Scribd

Marlins president David Samson issued a statement after the report was released. It said that nothing can take away from the positive impact Fernandez had on the Marlins and the Miami area.

Fernandez, who was a Cuban-born pitcher, was 24-years old when his 32-foot boat plowed into the Government Cut north jetty early in the morning in September, the Miami Herald reported.

The medical examiner had originally reported in October 2016 that the two passengers in Ferdnandez’s boat, Macias and Rivero, had alcohol in their system, but were not legally drunk, though Rivero also had cocaine in his blood.

The unexpected death of Fernandez and his friends occurred during the MLB season. It shocked the city of Miami and Fernandez’s teammates, who honored him for the remainder of the year and wore his No. 16 jersey in the first game following his death.

In the first game after Fernandez’s death, one of his friends on the roster, Dee Gordon, had an emotional display that ended with him breaking into tears. Prior to the game, he paid his respects on the pitcher’s mound and followed it up with a home run in Miami’s very first at-bat of the game. It was his first homer of the season.

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