Jose Fernandez, the Miami Marlins’ young pitching star, had consumed alcohol and cocaine shortly before he died in a boat crash last month, according to an official report on his death released Saturday.
According to the Miami-Dade County medical examiner’s toxicology report, the 24-year-old pitching ace had a blood-alcohol level of 0.147, well over the 0.08 marker for impaired driving.
The report cited “boat crash” as the cause of death for Fernandez and two friends, Eduardo Rivero and Emilio Macias, who died with him when Fernandez’s 32-foot SeaVee, Kaught Looking, crashed into a jetty at the southern tip of Miami Beach just after 3 a.m. Sept. 25. All three suffered “blunt force injuries” to the head, torso and extremities, the report said.
Neither Rivero nor Macias had blood-alcohol levels in the “impaired” range, though Rivero did have cocaine in his system, according to the toxicology report.
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigator found evidence that the boat’s “speed was reckless” and that “this recklessness was exacerbated by the consumption of alcohol by the operator, whoever that was,” the report said.
Fernandez, 23, had risen to iconic status in South Florida. He escaped Cuba on a raft to come to Florida at age 15, and was seen as a role model and an inspiration by many. All the Marlins players wore his No. 16 during their first game after his death, on Sept. 26 against the New York Mets.
Fernandez was about to make his final start of the season the day after he died. He was completing his best season in the major leagues, with a record of 16-8 and a 2.86 ERA.
