JOSE’S LAST HOURS
Marlin mate feared for Fernandez
Marlin teammate begged him not to go out on boat
Jose Fernandez was spotted at a waterfront bar Saturday night, just hours before his boat crashed into a jetty, killing the Marlins pitcher and two men on board.
The American Social Bar & Restaurant confirmed that the 24-year-old was at the establishment before the accident, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. The spokeswoman for the restaurant did not say if Fernandez had been drinking there that night.
A source at the bar, who did not wish to be identified, confirmed that one of Fernandez’s friends who was killed in the crash also lived in the same building as the restaurant.
The upscale sports bar/restaurant is located on the Miami River as it snakes through downtown Miami at the base of a large apartment complex. It has a dock where at least four boats can be secured and ladders for boaters to come ashore.
Tuesday the large patio with tables and couches was largely empty as televisions showed the replay of Monday night’s tributes to Fernandez at Marlins Park.
Fernandez reportedly solicited some teammates to join him that night, but none took him up on the offer.
“That night I told him, ‘Don’t go out,’” outfielder Marcell Ozuna told the Miami Herald. “Everybody knew he was crazy about that boat and loved being out on the water. I told him I couldn’t go out that night because I had the kids and my wife waiting for me.”
When authorities responded to the scene of the crash early Sunday morning, they said that there were no signs of drugs or alcohol, but toxicology reports for Fernandez and Emilio Jesus Macias and Eduardo Rivero, the two other men killed in the accident, have not been released.
On Monday, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission pivoted from its initial statement that the boat did not belong to Fernandez and revealed that the 32foot SeaVee was, in fact, Fernandez’s. The FWC is currently investigating the crash and it remains unclear who was in control of the boat at the time of the accident. “The exact time of the accident is still under investigation and the operator of the vessel at the time of the accident is undetermined at this time,” FWC Officer Rob Klepper said in a statement to the Miami Herald. American Social offers docking for patrons who arrive by water, though it was unclear if Fernandez had his boat, Kaught Looking, docked there. The restaurant is located on the Miami River, several miles from the crash site at Government Cut. Additionally, a Miami man claiming to be a friend of Rivero’s told the Miami Herald that Fernandez and his pregnant girlfriend had been arguing Saturday, and that he declined an invitation to go on the boat that night. “I was trying everything in my power to try to convince (Rivero) not to go out on the boat, and Jose too,” Will Bernal told the paper.
Bernal shared screenshots of text messages with Rivero in which he urged him to keep Fernandez close to the shoreline and to activate GPS locating on his iPhone. After urging him to be careful, Rivero responded “Trust me it’s not my time yet.”
There will be a public service on Wednesday from 4 p.m. to midnight at St. Brendan Catholic Church in Miami. A private funeral for Fernandez will be held Thursday.