After being tragically killed in a boating accident last month, reports are coming in that alcohol and cocaine played a role in the deaths of Miami Marlins pitcher José Fernández and two friends. The baseball All-Star was just 24 when he died on September 25 after he and two friends hit a jetty near Miami Beach.
Associate Medical Examiner Kenneth Hutchins listed “boat crash” as the cause of death and also said Fernandez was legally drunk with a blood-alcohol concentration of .147.
Fernandez, 24, suffered blunt-force injuries to the head and torso, along with skull and jaw fractures when the boat he was in hit a jetty near Miami Beach in the early morning hours of September 25.
Fernandez and two friends, Emilio Jesus Macias and Eduardo Rivero, were found dead later that morning after their boat was discovered near South Pointe Beach on Government Cut.
Authorities in Miami-Dade County say a strong odor of alcohol was present on Fernández and his friends at the scene according to a search warrant affidavit.
Released by the Miami-Dade state attorney, the warrant doesn’t say who was driving but it claims investigators discovered evidence that pointed driving with recklessness and speeding. This was just further “exacerbated by the consumption of alcohol.”
Toxicology is complete, but hasn’t been released due to there still being an open criminal investigation. The case is being investigated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The tragedy rocked the baseball and outdoors world as José Fernández was beloved on the field and water.
