Florida real estate mogul charged with manslaughter in 2022 boating accident that killed teenager and left another permanently disabled

A Florida real estate tycoon has been charged with felony murder in connection with a boating accident that killed a teenager after a newly released dash cam captured the moment he admitted to drinking “two cups of beer” while driving the vessel.

The Miami-Dade District Attorney’s Office charged George Pino with vehicular manslaughter/reckless operation Thursday in connection with a fatal boating accident over the 2022 Labor Day weekend, according to records. Local10.

Pino, 52, was piloting his 29-foot Robalo boat with 14 passengers, including several teenagers, on his daughter’s 18th birthday on Sept. 4, 2022, when he ran into a channel marker near Boca Chita Key, an island to the north from upper Florida. Keys.

All passengers were thrown into the water by the force of the impact, and the boat overturned.

During the accident, 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez died, and 18-year-old soccer star Kateryna Puig suffered a brain injury and was left disabled for life.

The girls were students at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami.

Another teenager was also injured, but his name has not been released.

Bodycam video received NBC 6 on Thursday shows Pinault speaking with Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) officers after the fatal crash.

The real estate mogul told officers he was piloting a boat through a canal when another boat hit a wave, causing him to lose control of the vessel.

He said two of the girls were “sitting in the back seat of the boat”, “five or six” others in the front and his wife in the middle when the boat “came into the waves head first”.

“I was looking at the girls to make sure they were okay because they were on their backs and the next thing I know I hit a wave, I tried to sway and the right side of the boat, meaning the port side of the boat, hit the pylon Pinault told the officers.

The well-known developer refused to take a voluntary blood test for alcohol and refused to be tested on a breathalyzer at the scene of the accident.

“No, I had two beers,” Pinault told officers.

In Florida, the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) for drivers over 21 is 0.08%.

Pinault assured them he was “perfect in that sense” but was stunned by what happened.

He added that he had “been piloting boats forever” and had “made this trip 1,000 times”.

According to an incident report obtained by the FWC, his vessel had “61 empty alcohol bottles and cans, one empty champagne bottle and a half-drinking bottle of alcohol.” NBC 6.

The investigators did not suspect that the real estate broker was intoxicated while the captain of the vessel.

At the time, Pinault was charged with three misdemeanors for operating the boat when it collided with a channel marker.

The Pooch family also accused Pino of speeding at the time of the crash and that he and his wife, Cecilia, had been supplying the teenagers with alcohol during the day. Local10.

In May, a judge ordered Pino’s family to pay Puig’s family $16 million as part of the lawsuit.

Joel Denaro, an attorney representing Fernandez’s family, said the new charges against Pino on Thursday came after prosecutors re-evaluated the case, and a Miami-Dade firefighter who responded to the boat accident said that alcohol was the cause of the accident.

If convicted, Pino could face up to 15 years in prison.