{"id":318280,"date":"2026-08-11T01:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T01:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/318280\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T01:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T01:08:09","slug":"captain-in-ny-harbor-tragedy-didnt-have-boat-license-was-hired-as-limo-driver-for-luxury-tour-company-court-docs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/318280\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Captain’ in NY Harbor tragedy didn’t have boat license, was hired as limo driver for luxury tour company: court docs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The captain of a motorboat that capsized in New York Harbor<\/a> and killed a mom and her baby<\/a> was not licensed to operate the vessel \u2013 and was actually hired as a limo driver, new court documents reveal.<\/p>\n

Manuel Hernandez, 46, was allegedly running an illegal charter operation<\/a> when he overloaded the 21-foot boat with 13 passengers on Saturday night, and lacked required safety standards that included child or infant-sized life jackets, federal prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Sara Sanchez, 27, and her 5-month-old daughter, Antonella Garcia, drowned shortly before 10:30 p.m. when the boat was struck by a swell while making a U-turn<\/a> near Liberty Island, while panicked survivors clung to the overturned vessel until help arrived.<\/p>\n

Manuel Hernandez getting escorted out of Manhattan federal court after his arraignment on Aug. 10, 2026. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post<\/p>\n

The captain of a motorboat that capsized in New York Harbor and killed a mom and her baby was not licensed to operate the vessel. Paul Martinka for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cFederal regulations and maritime safety protocols exist to protect the lives and well-being of passengers on commercial vessels,\u201d US Attorney Jamie McDonald, of the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant allegedly flouted those regulations when he transported paying customers on a commercial vessel without appropriate licenses, overcrowded the vessel, and took a five-month-old infant passenger with no infant life vests on board.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the federal complaint, Hernandez admitted that he never applied for a license or required US Coast Guard certification despite running boat charters since 2025.<\/p>\n

He allegedly told investigators he was initially hired by the tour operator as a limo driver, but periodically ran $1,000 boat trips in New York Harbor despite lacking a license.<\/p>\n

The operator, \u201cZeus Luxury,\u201d advertises online for $1,200, four-hour tours of the harbor, listing a maximum capacity of 14 passengers \u2014 although federal prosecutors said the boat that capsized has a 10-person capacity.<\/p>\n

Hernandez was charged two counts of operating a boat resulting in death. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post<\/p>\n

Federal regs require watercraft carrying at least six passengers, including at least one paying passenger, to have Coast Guard certification and at least 360 days of documented experience piloting a boat, prosecutors said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Hernandez owns his own motorboat, which was in disrepair, so he borrowed a friend\u2019s for the tour \u2014 which is four feet smaller and has a smaller capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Court papers state he was initially booked for 12 passengers but agreed to take one more.<\/p>\n

Follow the latest on the boat crash off Liberty Island in New York Harbor:<\/p>\n

But the borrowed boat was not equipped with life jackets for the baby, and Hernandez told her parents that one of them would have to wear one \u201cand hold [the baby] throughout the Aug. 8 tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than three hours into the trip, Hernandez hit the swell and made the mistake of hitting the throttle to get over it \u2014 instead causing the boat to take on water and flip, the feds said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another party boat, along with FDNY, NYPD and US Coast Guard vessels plucked the survivors from the water, but by the time they found the mother and baby, it was too late.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sara Sanchez and her 5-month-old daughter, Antonella Garcia, died in the capsized boat accident. Instagram\/Sara Sanchez<\/p>\n

Hernandez made his first appearance in Manhattan federal court\u00a0Monday afternoon on misconduct and neglect charges \u2014 still wearing a white bathing suit and swim shoes as he faced the judge.<\/p>\n

Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo set bail at a $50,000 bond, which Hernandez posted Monday, and ordered him to stay away from the survivors and \u201cnot to operate boats or nautical vessels\u201d \u2014 and not leave the New York and New Jersey area while the case was pending.<\/p>\n

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Hernandez did not speak to reporters as he left the courthouse and got into a waiting SUV.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0was initially arrested\u00a0following the tragic mishap and hit with\u00a0more than a dozen counts of reckless endangerment<\/a>\u00a0by the NYPD before the feds also brought charges against him.<\/p>\n

A survivor told The Post on Monday that the captain allegedly swam to the hull of the overturned boat while passengers scrambled to find loved ones \u2013 and the doomed mother and daughter \u2013 to no avail.<\/p>\n

Zeus Luxury tours could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Additional reporting by Jordan Donegan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The captain of a motorboat that capsized in New York Harbor and killed a mom and her baby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8948,1015,57,9,24,55,54,4180,56,58],"class_list":["post-318280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-boat-crashes","tag-deaths","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-harbor","tag-ny","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}