MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez had cocaine and alcohol in his system when his boat crashed into a Miami Beach jetty, according to toxicology reports released Saturday.
It’s not clear whether Fernandez was driving when the boat crashed Sept. 25, killing the 24-year-old baseball star and two of his friends. But Fernandez had a blood-alcohol content level of 0.147, well above Florida’s legal limit of 0.08, according to autopsy reports released by the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Associate Medical Examiner Kenneth Hutchins listed the cause of death as “boat crash” for Fernandez, 27-year-old Emilio Jesus Macias and 25-year-old Eduardo Rivero.
Each man had suffered blunt force injuries to his head and body, Hutchins wrote.
Cocaine use would be out of character for Fernandez, and the toxicology reports raise more questions than they answer about what happened that night, said the Fernandez family’s Tampa-based attorney and longtime friend, Ralph E. Fernandez.