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Javier Torres was operating a 19-foot center console Key West boat at 1:50 p.m. Sunday, July 14 south of Bay Shore Marina when a pump malfunctioned and the vessel began taking on water, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
Torres reportedly brought the boat to a hard stop, filling the boat with more water and causing it to capsize, police said.
Torres and six passengers were thrown into the water when the boat overturned, according to the report.
Marine Bureau police responded and pulled two victims out of the water, while the remaining five boaters were helped by Jeff Sperling, 54, and his daughters Emily Sperling, 15, and Jessica Sperling, 14, all of Bay Shore, who were tubing nearby, said police.
The two teenagers jumped into the water to bring life vests to the stranded boaters until they could be aided by the Coast Guard, according to Suffolk County Police.
One passenger, Omar Rivera-Nelson, 31, of Brentwood was taken by ambulance to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries and no other injuries were reported, police said.
Torres, 48, of Bay Shore, was charged with the BWI and held overnight at the Third Precinct. He is due in Central Islip court on Monday, July 15.
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