MIAMI (WSVN) - Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez and his two friends were likely drinking before a fatal boat crash off Miami Beach took their lives, on Sept. 25., according to a search warrant affidavit.
According to the state search warrant affidavit obtained by 7News, Wednesday, from the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, 24-year-old Fernandez and two of his friends, 25-year-old Eduardo Rivera and 27-year-old Emilio Jesus Macias, were likely intoxicated before their boat crashed at a high speed into the northern section of the jetty at Government Cut in Miami Beach.
According to an associate medical examiner who conducted the autopsies on the men, Fernandez and his two friends had a strong odor of alcohol coming from their bodies at the time they were discovered, and were driving recklessly.
The report stated, “The collision scene is consistent with a high speed collision at a location and time when such a speed was reckless because of the jetty and darkness.”
Also discovered was a receipt for drinks inside the pocket of one of the men, which had a date and time stamp that indicated purchases of alcoholic beverages were made during the early morning hours of Sept. 25.
Fernandez was said to be with his friends, Rivera and Macias, at American Social in Brickell before they took out Fernandez’s 32-foot boat. No specific bar was mentioned in the affidavit, but it did state, “The three occupants were present at a bar, in the early morning hours of September 25, 2016, where alcohol is served.”
The report also noted, “Three males died with water in their lungs and had blunt trauma consistent with death from boating collision.”
The report did not indicate who was driving the boat at the time of the fatal crash.
The crash is being investigated as a crime, but no charges have been announced.
The death of the 24-year-old, Cuban-born pitching ace is considered one of the darkest days in South Florida sports history. But, it’s also a loss felt well beyond sports.
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