{"id":325941,"date":"2026-08-20T16:50:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/325941\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:50:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:50:45","slug":"ice-arrests-captain-charged-in-death-of-mother-and-baby-in-lower-manhattan-boat-capsizing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/325941\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE arrests captain charged in death of mother and baby in lower Manhattan boat capsizing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man accused of piloting an overcrowded motorboat that capsized in the waters off lower Manhattan, killing a young mother and her 5-month-old baby, has been arrested and targeted for deportation<\/a> by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n

Manuel Hernandez, 46, a native of El Salvador, was arrested by federal immigration enforcement after the U.S. Coast Guard determined he did not have documents to legally reside in the U.S., according to a press release issued Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

In a statement, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin indicated Hernandez would remain in custody in the U.S. pending the resolution of his prosecution in Manhattan. The Daily News asked the agency where he would be detained but did not receive an immediate response.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce he faces justice for his crimes, we will make sure that he is swiftly removed from our country,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

Hernandez told authorities that he had been in the U.S. for almost 20 years, and that he had entered the country illegally via Texas in 2007, according to DHS.<\/p>\n

The tragic Aug. 8 incident saw all 14 people on Hernandez\u2019s vessel thrown overboard<\/a> after the motorboat he was piloting encountered a swell and capsized. Killed were 27-year-old Sara Sanchez of College Point, Queens, and her 5-month-old baby girl, Antonella Garcia. Sanchez\u2019s partner, Andres Garcia, the father of little Antonella, was also thrown from the vessel and survived. The family was celebrating a friend\u2019s birthday, as previously reported by the Daily News.<\/p>\n

\"SaraSara Sanchez. (Facebook)<\/p>\n

Hernandez was charged with two counts of misconduct of a ship officer resulting in death under the seaman\u2019s manslaughter statute and released on a $50,000 bond at his presentment in Manhattan federal court two days after the incident<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He told the feds he\u2019d been working for the tour operator as a freelancer since last year, having started at the company as a limousine driver. Prosecutors allege he hosted 14 people on the motorboat that has a maximum capacity of 10 people and knowingly took a small infant who wasn\u2019t wearing a personal flotation device on the overcrowded vessel.<\/p>\n

The Yamaha AR210 did not have U.S. Coast Guard certification to carry paying customers, nor would it be ineligible for such a certificate due to its type and size, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

Hernandez\u2019s attorney declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man accused of piloting an overcrowded motorboat that capsized in the waters off lower Manhattan, killing a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[266,85,267,75,84,83,9,24,12,63],"class_list":["post-325941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325941","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=325941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}