Miami-Dade prosecutors have filed a new manslaughter charge against real estate broker George Pino, whose boat crashed during a 2022 Labor Day outing, killing a teenage girl and seriously injuring another. The additional felony count, filed Thursday, comes on top of an existing vessel homicide charge, according to court records.
Both charges stem from the death of 17-year-old Luciana “Lucy” Fernandez, a high school senior at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy who died after the boat capsized near Biscayne Bay on Sept. 4, 2022. Her classmate, Katerina “Katy” Puig, now 20, suffered traumatic injuries and remains in a wheelchair, struggling with basic motor skills.
Witness accounts and alcohol allegations led to new charge
The new charge states that Pino, 54, “intentionally committed an act or acts, and/or acted with culpable negligence” that led to Fernandez’s death. Each charge carries a potential prison sentence of up to 15 years.
Prosecutors deemed the manslaughter charge appropriate after receiving new witness information. Sources familiar with the case told The Miami Herald that testimony from several teenage girls who were on the boat, including accounts of alcohol consumption hours before the crash, played a key role in the decision…