New York police arrested the operator of a boat that capsized near the Statue of Liberty, killing a five-month-old girl and a 27-year-old woman and leaving 12 other people with minor injuries.
Police identified the operator as Manuel Hernandez, 46, of Manhattan. He was taken into custody at about 2:30 a.m. on Sunday and charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment, roughly four hours after the vessel overturned. Charges are accusations, and the supplied report did not include a plea or court response from Hernandez.
The New York Police Department identified the dead as Antonella Garcia, five months old, and Sara Sanchez, 27. Both were listed at the same Queens address. The Coast Guard described them as a mother and child, while sources familiar with the inquiry also told ABC News they were mother and daughter.
The 22-foot Bayliner capsized at about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday near Liberty Island. NYPD divers and New York Fire Department responders were dispatched after reports of people in the water. Two Coast Guard vessels and an NYPD helicopter also joined the rescue.
Twelve people were pulled from the water and taken to hospitals with injuries described by the Fire Department as minor. The woman and baby were transported to NYU Langone Health Brooklyn and later pronounced dead, police said.
The Coast Guard and its Investigative Service opened a marine casualty investigation with the NYPD. Federal officials said they were examining whether the boat was being used as an illegal charter. That inquiry had not reached a conclusion, and the initial reporting did not establish why the boat overturned.
The arrest and the marine investigation address different questions. The criminal case concerns allegations that the operator recklessly endangered those aboard, while the casualty review is intended to establish the physical and operational circumstances of the capsize. The number of charges does not itself explain the cause or establish guilt.
Authorities had not disclosed weather and water conditions, the vessel's rated capacity, whether passengers wore flotation devices or what happened immediately before it rolled over. Those details will be important to evaluating both the possible charter violation and the fatal outcome.
The confirmed account is therefore limited to the timing and location, two deaths, 12 rescues, Hernandez's arrest and the agencies participating in the investigation. Any conclusion about overloading, mechanical failure or operator conduct beyond the filed reckless-endangerment allegations would go beyond the evidence released at that stage. Officials did confirm that divers, two Coast Guard boats, firefighters and a police helicopter took part in the response.
