Fernandez visited bar before accident
MIAMI >> Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez was a patron at a Miami River bar and restaurant the same night he and two friends were killed in a boat crash, a spokeswoman for the establishment confirmed Tuesday.
American Social Bar & Kitchen spokeswoman Dana Rhoden said in an email that Fernandez was there before the accident. The statement did not say whether Fernandez had been drinking or what time he left.
The bar is along the Miami River in the city’s downtown section and allows boats to dock alongside.
Fernandez, 24, died when the boat he owned slammed at high speed into a rock jetty early Sunday just off South Beach, investigators say. Emilio Jesus Macias,
27, and 25-year-old Eduardo Rivero also died.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating. Spokesman Rob Klepper said in an interview Tuesday that there’s no timetable, and “we will provide a complete and thorough investigative report.”
The 32-foot boat named “Kaught Looking” — the “K” is backwards, signifying a strikeout when the batter does not swing — will be thoroughly checked for clues as to why the accident occurred, authorities said. Miami-Dade County prosecutors have obtained search warrants for wildlife commission investigators
seeking access to the vessel, said Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the state attorney’s office.
“As you know, FWC has a duty to investigate fatal boating accidents like this one,” Griffith said in an email. “Since the incident involved a single boat and there were no survivors, there can be no criminal prosecution derived from the FWC investigation.”
Klepper said the wildlife commission has no record of any previous citation or warning involving the boat, Fernandez or the other two men who died. Normally vessel stops are not documented unless a warning or citation is issued, he added.
The Miami-Dade County medical examiner has not yet released toxicology results that might determine if Fernandez or the other
two victims were under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Klepper said that report would be part of the wildlife commission’s completed investigation. Authorities previously said no evidence of alcohol or drugs was found at the crash scene.
On Capitol Hill, Florida’s U.S. senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio, introduced a resolution Tuesday honoring Fernandez for his journey from communist Cuba to Major League Baseball stardom and his contributions to the community.
The resolution notes that Fernandez was jailed in Cuba after an unsuccessful attempt to defect and once saved his mother from drowning after she fell from a boat off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.