Exclusive | Captain in fatal NY Harbor boat tragedy is illegal immigrant: ‘Criminal is off our streets’
The captain of an illegal charter boat that flipped in New York Harbor, killing a mom and her baby, is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who is now in federal immigration custody, The Post has learned.
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Manuel Hernandez, 46, a limo driver without a boating license, was in the US illegally when he capsized the overloaded 21-foot vessel on Aug. 8, drowning Sara Sanchez and her baby daughter, Antonella Garcia, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday.
“This criminal illegal alien was illegally and recklessly conducting unlicensed boat tours in New York Harbor when his boat capsized, killing a 27-year-old woman and her 5-month-old baby,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement.
“Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of the Coast Guard, ICE, and our federal, state and local partners, this criminal is off our streets and out of our waterways,” Mullin added. “Once he faces justice for his crimes, we will make sure that he is swiftly removed from our country.”
Hernandez was arrested and charged in federal court with two counts of misconduct and neglect of a ship officer resulting in death and released on $50,000 bail.
A subsequent investigation by the US Coast Guard Investigative Services determined that the bumbling boat captain was an illegal migrant and he was subsequently snatched up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Hernandez illegally crossed the southern border through Texas in 2007 by lying to a border agent and falsely claiming he was an American citizen, according to the feds.
He is now being held without bail by immigration authorities pending the outcome of the criminal case.
Federal prosecutors said Hernandez packed 14 passengers into the charter boat for a birthday party cruise near Liberty Island, despite specs that a craft of that size should typically carry no more than 10.
The boat was not equipped with a child or infant size life jacket, investigators found, although Hernandez told the passengers they were not required. The bogus captain turned and accelerated when he hit a swell during the doomed cruise, capsizing the boat and sending everyone into the harbor.
The survivors were plucked from the water by another charter boat along with NYPD, FDNY and Coast Guard boats, but the mom and her baby could not be saved.
Despite being hired as a limo driver by the tour operator, authorities said Hernandez would periodically captain illegal harbor cruises despite not being licensed or trained to do so.
“Illegal charter operations gamble with human life, and in this case the alleged conduct led to an unthinkable tragedy,” Coast Guard investigator Josh Packer said in a statement.
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