Developer pleads not guilty to homicide charge in fatal Boca Chita Key boat crash

A South Florida real estate developer has entered a not guilty plea to a homicide charge related to a 2022 boat accident at Boca Chita Key that claimed the life of one teenager and left another forever crippled. George Pino entered the plea during a Zoom hearing that he attended Thursday morning with his lawyer. Last Monday, Pino was charged with vessel homicide and negligent operation in connection with the collision on September 4, 2022.

Prosecutors and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials say Pino, 54, struck a channel sign at Boca Chita Key while operating the 29-foot boat carrying 14 people. All of the people on board, including some teenagers, were flung into the ocean when the boat overturned. The majority of the boat’s occupants were hurt, including 18-year-old Katerina Puig, who was rendered permanently crippled, and Luciana Fernandez, a senior at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami, who died at the age of 17.

At first, Pino was accused of several misdemeanor offenses, including reckless boating. He had entered a not guilty plea to the accusations. According to an FWC report, Pino “did operate his vessel in a careless manner by violating four navigational rules.” According to the FWC, the boat’s speed of 45–47 miles per hour contributed to the collision.

According to a final FWC incident report issued over a year after the tragedy, Pino did not exhibit any signs of impairment when officers arrived, despite the fact that 61 empty alcoholic bottles and cans, one empty champagne bottle, and a half-consumed bottle of liquor were discovered on the boat.

Last week, fresh body camera footage of Pino interacting with FWC officials following the collision was made public. It showed Pino confessing to having two beers but refusing to provide a blood sample. According to the authorities, he declined a breathalyzer as well. However, a lawyer for Fernandez’s family claimed that after a new important witness came forward, prosecutors reexamined the case and brought the new indictment.

According to the lawyer, the witness, a Miami-Dade firefighter who was called to the boat accident, admitted to prosecutors that alcohol played a role in the collision. Howard Srebnick, Pino’s lawyer, said in a statement last week that the choice to charge him with homicide was unexpected.

“I am dismayed by the State’s surprise-decision to file this new charge more than two years later,” Srebnick stated. “Officers on the scene of the collision concluded that Pino was not intoxicated; he did not go over any posted speed limit, had the necessary number of Coast Guard-approved life preservers on board, and heroically attempted to rescue the injured passengers, including diving beneath the capsized boat, despite suffering a head injury that required fifteen stitches.