Manuel Hernandez was arrested after the Liberty Island charter boat capsize late Saturday night, when a 22-foot bowrider power boat overturned off Liberty Island at about 10:20 p.m. Two passengers, Antonella Garcia and Sara Sanchez, died after being taken to NYU Langone Brooklyn in critical condition.
Liberty Island and NYU Langone Brooklyn
Hernandez, 46, of Manhattan, was charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment. Twelve other passengers were rescued from the water and taken to hospitals with minor injuries. The Coast Guard said investigators were looking into whether the trip may have been operating as an illegal charter, while the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard Investigative Service and the NYPD continued to examine what caused the capsizing.
The vessel type typically holds 10 to 12 people. Police identified the boat as a 22-foot bowrider power boat, and that detail sits at the center of the criminal case: if the outing was carrying more people or operating outside the rules for that kind of trip, the investigation can reach beyond the wreck itself and into how the ride was set up.
Sara Sanchez in College Point
The victims were identified as a 5-month-old girl and a 27-year-old mother from Queens. Sanchez lived in College Point, Queens. The U.S. Coast Guard said the two killed were a mother and child, while police said it was not immediately clear whether they were related.
Madeline Hunter said, "I saw a lot of ambulances, firefighters, and then I saw that there were boats here" and added, "And then people were just saying that there was a mother and a child that needed to be rescued from the water and that they were found." Diego Naranjo, speaking on Sunday afternoon in College Point, said, "I'm in shock" and, "For the family, sending condolences to the family. May they rest in peace in heaven."
Hernandez now faces the criminal case while investigators keep working through the cause of the overturning and the legality of the trip. The surviving passengers have already been treated, but the unanswered issue is whether the outing was a lawful charter or a trip that should not have been carrying that load at all.
