{"id":302209,"date":"2026-06-10T04:46:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T04:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/302209\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T04:46:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T04:46:29","slug":"victims-dad-testifies-in-george-pinos-boat-crash-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/302209\/","title":{"rendered":"Victim\u2019s dad testifies in George Pino\u2019s boat-crash trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"George<\/p>\n

George Pino reacts as one of his attorneys presents the defense team\u2019s opening statement on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Miami. Pino is charged in connection to the boat crash that killed 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez in 2022.<\/p>\n

Carl Juste<\/p>\n

cjuste@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n

Sitting at the witness stand, Andres Fernandez, the father of Luciana \u201cLucy\u201d Fernandez, recounted the last time he hugged his daughter.<\/p>\n

Fernandez last embraced his daughter four years ago, when he and his wife left Lucy at Elliott Key with George Pino, his wife and other friends. Lucy, Fernandez said, asked him and his wife, Melissa, to come visit her while she was on the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe gave me a hug, and I remember it clearly because it was the last time I held her alive,\u201d Fernandez said as his eyes watered on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"Malissa Melissa Fernandez, center left, comforts her husband, Andres, as they arrive in court on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Their 17-year-old daughter, Lucy, was killed in the crash. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Pino, 54, is on trial on charges of manslaughter and vessel homicide in a Sept. 4, 2022, boat crash. Lucy, 17, was killed, and Katerina \u201cKaty\u201d Puig, now 21, another passenger, was left with physical and neurological disabilities. Dozens of Lucy\u2019s loved ones and Pino\u2019s supporters tightly packed both sides of the large courtroom.<\/p>\n

Lucy was with Pino\u2019s family and two other families, their boats tied up at Elliott Key in Biscayne Bay to celebrate the 18th birthday of Pino\u2019s daughter. . Lucy and 11 of her teen friends went to Elliott Key from the Ocean Reef Club, a gated community in north Key Largo.<\/p>\n

Defense attorney Howard Srebnick concluded his opening statement to the jury on Tuesday morning after Pino on Monday caused the trial to be paused because he sobbed and breathed heavily. Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez ordered the jury removed from the courtroom.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: After prosecutor lays out boat crash case, George Pino causes trial to pause<\/a><\/p>\n

\"George George Pino breaks down into tears as attorneys deliver opening statements in his trial on Monday, June 8, 2026. Pino is charged with vessel homicide and manslaughter in connection to a Sept. 4, 2022, boat crash that killed 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Miami Fire Rescue did not comment on Pino\u2019s condition. After walking into court on Tuesday, Pino told his defense team he was \u201cfeeling good this morning. I got a good night\u2019s rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his opening statement, Srebnick said Pino was distracted for unknown reasons when he crashed his boat into a steel channel marker. But that, the attorney said, does not amount to recklessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Pino was not thrill-seeking. He was not speeding. He was not doing doughnuts. He was not racing any other boats,\u201d Srebnick said. \u201cThis was, pure and simple, an accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Prosecutor Prosecutor Laura Adams walks with a photo of Lucy Fernandez prior to giving the state’s opening statement in the trial of George Pino on Monday, June 8, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Minutes before Monday\u2019s interruption, prosecutor Laura Adams had finished her opening statements, which consisted of more than 45 minutes of her laying out that Pino acted recklessly up to and when he slammed his 29-foot Robalo center console into the steel channel marker, sending himself and all 13 of his passengers into the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not a mere accident or momentarily lapse,\u201d the prosecutor said. \u201cLucy is dead because the defendant failed to do the most basic things the rules on the water require.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father\u2019s tearful testimony<\/p>\n

Andres Fernandez told the jury he arrived at the Elliott Key sandbar about 4 p.m. and tied up to another friend\u2019s boat. He made a rum and club soda, hung out for about an hour, and he and Melissa Fernandez headed back to Ocean Reef to get ready to watch Florida State\u2019s opening football game with his father that evening.<\/p>\n

But Andres Fernandez never made it to his father\u2019s apartment to watch the game. As he and his wife were getting ready, he got word that Pino was involved in a boat crash.<\/p>\n

The Fernandezes hopped back on their boat and searched for the accident scene. They arrived soon after pulling out of Angel Fish Creek, near Ocean Reef. Andres described a chaotic scene, with police lights and boats on the water.<\/p>\n

\"Andres Andres Fernandez, the father of Lucy, testifies on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Fernandez said he saw Puig on the platform of a boat, and \u201cshe was in bad shape.\u201d They noticed other girls on a boat, but they did not see their daughter. He and Melissa Fernandez screamed, \u201cWhere\u2019s Lucy?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fernandezes were eventually told Lucy was taken to a hospital but were not told which one, Fernandez testified. They eventually went to Kendall Regional Hospital and showed a receptionist a photo of Lucy. Staff confirmed Lucy was there.<\/p>\n

Inside the hospital room, they discovered \u201cevery parent\u2019s worst nightmare,\u201d Fernandez said. Lucy had tubes all over her body, and a nurse was trying to establish a heartbeat. Lucy died at 6 a.m. the following day.<\/p>\n

\"Lucy Lucy Fernandez The Lucy Fernandez Foundation <\/p>\n

Fernandez said he and Melissa Fernandez saw something by their daughter\u2019s head. It turned out to be a piece of fiberglass from Pino\u2019s boat. They tried to remove it, he testified, and were told by a police officer to leave it because it was evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that point, Meli and I looked at each other and said, \u2018Our daughter is a piece of evidence,\u2019 \u201d Fernandez said in tears.<\/p>\n

Girls on boat testify<\/p>\n

Camila Alvarez, 21, was one of the passengers on Pino\u2019s boat, and a friend of\u00a0Pino\u2019s daughter, Cecilia, as well as Lucy and Puig.\u00a0Early into Alvarez\u2019s testimony, Adams played a video of the girls singing and dancing to Billy Joel\u2019s \u201cUptown Girl\u201d while they were at the sandbar.<\/p>\n

Alvarez told the prosecutor that she drank heavily that day, saying she had 10 hard lemonades. \u00a0The alcohol, she said, was provided by the Pinos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"State Camila Alvarez, center, one of the survivors of the crash, helps identify the people who were on the boat while testifying on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

When Jeanelle Gomez, one of Pino\u2019s defense attorneys, asked if she saw Pino drinking alcohol that day, Alvarez said she did not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Carolina Monterrey \u2014 who was one of the girls on the boat \u2014 testified that she saw Pino drinking a beer when they were at the sandbar. Monterrey, now 21, said she drank from the stash of alcohol on Pino\u2019s boat and felt buzzed.<\/p>\n

Alvarez, now going into her senior year at Florida State University, said she actually remained on the boat before it capsized, as did Pino, who she said was unconscious to the point she thought he died. Alvarez said she wasn\u2019t injured in the crash, although her head hurt afterward.\u00a0Monterrey, who is now a senior at Syracuse University, said she sustained minor injuries.<\/p>\n

Both Alvarez and Monterrey testified that they didn\u2019t feel unsafe as Pino operated the vessel.<\/p>\n

\"State Camila Alvarez, one of the survivors of the boat crash, takes a moment for thought as she testifies on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com Crash was not a crime: defense<\/p>\n

Standing at the lectern in front of the jury on Tuesday, Srebnick said that Sunday in 2022 was \u201can ideal day for boating.\u201d The seas were calm, and there was no wind or rain.<\/p>\n

Pino had made the voyage through Cutter Bank several times on the \u201cwell-built boat,\u201d Srebnick said. But that day, Pino got distracted nine seconds before he slammed his boat into the steel channel marker.<\/p>\n

\"Defense Defense attorney Howard Srebnick delivers the defense\u2019s opening statement on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in the trial of George Pino. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Pino momentarily \u201clost situational awareness,\u201d but that does not mean he acted recklessly or was culpably negligent, the attorney said. As Srebnick addressed the jury, Pino closed his eyes, as if crying, and shook his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut even so, somebody died,\u201d Srebnick said. \u201cMr. Pino will have to live with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Pino was traveling fast and on the wrong side of the channel, Srebnick countered that neither is illegal. Pino, Srebnick added, also had the required number of life preservers, and the boat was not overloaded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During his opening, Srebnick focused on why Pino told investigators he crashed because the wake of another boat caused him to lose control. No witness, including people on his Robalo or in other boats behind him, saw what the prosecutor previously called the \u201cphantom boat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pino\u2019s recollection of the crash, Srebnick said, was affected by a traumatic brain injury that he sustained. The head injury caused Pino to have \u201ca false memory\u201d that was about how the crash unfolded and that he \u201cbelieved to be true,\u201d Srebnick said.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Brent Reitman, an attorney with the firm hired by the Puig family to sue Pino and his wife, testified that more than a year after the crash, Pino again said the reason he crashed was because of the other boat. He wrote that narrative in a sworn statement in the civil case.<\/p>\n

While out at Elliot Key before the crash, the adults and some of the children on the boat consumed alcohol, Srebnick said. Witnesses observed Pino drinking a beer, and he told FWC investigator Lt. William Thompson he had \u201ctwo beers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Empty Empty and partially empty beer and other alcoholic beverage bottles and cans are lined up behind the cockpit of George Pino\u2019s 29-foot Robalo boat on Sept. 5, 2022, the day after the crash. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission <\/p>\n

However, Srebnick pointed out that several people on the scene, including Thompson, concluded Pino was not impaired.<\/p>\n

Srebnick also said the 61 empty or partially empty bottles of alcohol found on Pino\u2019s boat when it was pulled out of the water were on the vessel because Pino\u2019s wife gathered them from other boaters partying with them to avoid littering.<\/p>\n

Facing the jury, Srebnick repeated that the crash was a tragedy \u2014 and was not caused by reckless or culpably negligent behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll it would have taken would be a slight turn of the wheel, and none of us would be here,\u201d Srebnick said. \u201c… The evidence will show that Mr. Pino was human and that something happened that we may never know. … Why was he distracted for those nine seconds?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"George George Pino sits next to his attorneys during his trial on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com \u2018Look under the boat\u2019<\/p>\n

The state also brought a man named Hilary Candela as a witness. He was on his friend James Gassenheimer\u2019s boat that day, and they came across the crash moments after it happened. Candela has known Pino since childhood and recognized him in the water clinging to the bow of the overturned Robalo, he told jurors.<\/p>\n

As several people were yelling they couldn\u2019t find Lucy, Candela said he thought she might be underneath Pino\u2019s boat. He told jurors he yelled to Pino to look under the boat, but he was \u201cin shock\u201d and \u201cdazed\u201d and did not respond.<\/p>\n

He then yelled again, \u201cGeorge, look under the boat, or I will,\u201d Candela told jurors. Pino then went under the vessel and came up with Lucy, Candela said. Gassenheimer, who knows CPR, jumped in the water to help Pino get Lucy to another civilian boat, on which he performed CPR on her with other witnesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A paramedic then took over CPR, and the boat carrying Lucy was taken to shore.<\/p>\n

Candela, who also knows the Puig family, saw Katy Puig and said she was unconscious and laying on the platform of a large boat. Candela called Katy\u2019s father, Rudy Puig, to tell him what happened.<\/p>\n

Candela was one of three witnesses who told the Miami Herald that no one from the FWC nor Miami-Dade State Attorney\u2019s Office ever contacted them again during the course of the original criminal investigation.<\/p>\n

\"Katerina Katerina \u2018Katy\u2019 Puig receives a hug from her brother, Rudy Puig Jr., in Miami on July 2, 2025. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 12:08 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Grethel Aguila<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami Herald<\/p>\n

Grethel covers courts and the criminal justice system for the Miami Herald. She graduated from the University of Florida (Go Gators!), speaks Spanish and Arabic and loves animals, traveling, basketball and good storytelling. Grethel also attends law school part time.\n <\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

David Goodhue<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami Herald<\/p>\n

David Goodhue covers the Florida Keys and South Florida for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald. Before joining the Herald, he covered Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Pino reacts as one of his attorneys presents the defense team\u2019s opening statement on Tuesday, June 9,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-302209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}