Miami Herald Report: Jose Fernandez Behind Wheel in Fatal Boat Crash

According to a report in the Miami Herald, Jose Fernandez was indeed behind the wheel of the boat that crashed this past September; killing him and two other men.

Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez – drunk, high on cocaine and speeding – was behind the wheel and to blame when his boat plowed into a jetty off South Beach, killing two others, police concluded in a report released Thursday.

Had Fernandez lived, he would likely have been charged with a host of crimes including manslaughter, according to the final report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The article recaps everything that happened on that night, and includes a diagram of where the three men were sitting.

The boat collided violently with the north jetty at 3:02 a.m., causing the vessel to completely roll over and come to rest on the top of the rocks.

Fernandez’s body was pinned under the boat. Macias was thrown off the boat, found in a tidal pool next to the jetty. Rivero was discovered underwater on the north side of the jetty, his head and chest under a boulder.

Autopsies concluded that the three died after suffering blunt force trauma. The level of cocaine in Fernandez’s body also indicated that he had ingested the drug in the few hours before the crash. (Fernandez’s waterlogged phone could never be turned back on, making tracing his cocaine supplier impossible).

No matter the story now, the tragedy has happened and nothing will bring Jose Fernandez or his friends back. Baseball enters the 2017 season amidst a terrible loss of talent that didn’t have to happen.