George Pino Surrenders in Deadly Boca Chita Key Boat Crash – NBC 6 South Florida

A South Florida real estate developer charged with murder stemming from a 2022 boat crash near Boca Chita Key that left one teenager dead and another permanently disabled has been ordered to turn himself in to authorities.

A judge on Wednesday ordered George Pino to surrender and be sent to prison on charges of manslaughter and reckless conduct in the Sept. 4, 2022, crash.

According to prosecutors and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials, Pino, 54, was piloting the 29-foot-long vessel with 14 passengers on board when he crashed into a channel marker near Boca Chita Key. The boat capsized and all passengers, including several teenagers, were thrown into the water.

A well-known South Florida real estate developer now faces murder charges in connection with a 2022 boat accident near Boca Chita Key that left one teenager dead and another permanently disabled. Miami-Dade prosecutors are charging George Pino with vehicular homicide and reckless conduct, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

The crash killed 17-year-old Luciana Fernandez, a senior at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami, and injured most of the passengers on the boat, including Katerina Puig, who was 18 at the time and permanently disabled .

Pino was originally charged with misdemeanors including negligent boating, but the murder charge was filed last month. He has pleaded not guilty.

An FWC report said Pino “operated his vessel negligently and violated four rules of navigation.” The boat was traveling between 45 and 47 miles per hour, which the FWC said was a cause of the crash.

According to the report, 61 empty alcohol bottles and cans, an empty champagne bottle and a half-drunk bottle of liquor were found on the boat. However, a final FWC incident report released nearly a year after the crash said Pino showed no signs of impairment when officers responded.

New body camera footage of Pino speaking with FWC officials after the crash, released last week, shows Pino admitting to drinking two beers but refusing to provide a blood sample. Authorities said he also refused a breathalyzer test.

A new body-worn camera shows a prominent South Florida real estate developer speaking to state wildlife officials shortly after a boat accident that killed a young girl. NBC6's Laura Rodriguez reports

However, a lawyer for Fernandez's family said prosecutors had reassessed the case and filed new charges after a new key witness came forward.

The witness, a Miami-Dade firefighter who responded to the boating accident, told prosecutors that alcohol was a factor in the crash, the attorney said.

In a statement last week, Pino's attorney, Howard Srebnick, said the decision to file murder charges was a surprise.

“I am dismayed by the state’s surprising decision to file this new charge more than two years later,” Srebnick said. “Officers at the scene determined that Pino was not drunk; Pino did not exceed a posted speed limit, Pino had the required number of Coast Guard approved life jackets on board the vessel and despite sustaining a head injury himself (required). Pino made heroic efforts to save the injured passengers, including diving under the capsized boat. This was an accident, not a crime, let alone a crime.