A prominent Miami commercial real estate broker was charged with homicide after new information emerged about his condition during a boat crash that killed a 17-year-old passenger.
The Miami Herald reported George Pino, president of State Street Realty, drove his 29-foot center console Robalo into a concrete channel marker in Biscayne Bay over the Labor Day weekend in 2022. The boat capsized and all 14 people on board were ejected into the bay. One of the passengers, Luciana “Lucy” Fernandez, was killed in the crash while her classmate Katerina Puig suffered a traumatic brain injury and was permanently disabled; seven other passengers were injured.
Pino was initially charged with three careless boating misdemeanors, which created outrage among the families of the crash victims, but a felony homicide charge was brought against him on Thursday after one of the first responders on the crash scene, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue firefighter Matthew Smiley, reportedly told prosecutors that Pino showed signs of being intoxicated following the crash. Pino was not subjected to sobriety tests by investigators who arrived at the crash site, but on the day after the incident 61 empty bottles and cans of alcohol were found stashed in the boat.
The misdemeanor charges were dropped by prosecutors in favor of the felony and Pino now faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Pino’s attorney, Howard Srebnick, issued a statement criticizing the new charge.
“I am dismayed by the State’s surprise-decision to file this new charge more than two years later,” Srebnick said. “Officers on the scene of the crash determined that Pino was not intoxicated; Pino did not exceed any posted speed limit, Pino had the required number of Coast Guard-approved life preservers on board the vessel, and despite sustaining a head injury himself (requiring fifteen stitches), Pino made heroic efforts to rescue the injured passengers, including diving under the capsized boat. This was an accident, not a crime, much less a felony.”
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