Overview
- Federal prosecutors charged Yusiel Lopez Insua on Tuesday with seaman’s manslaughter, a felony that carries up to 10 years in prison.
- The case alleges his tug pushed a debris barge with a blocked forward view and no assigned lookout, and that his phone showed marketplace browsing during the approach.
- The barge hit a stalled youth-camp sailboat near Hibiscus Island, where a counselor and two children escaped but three girls, ages 7, 10, and 13, were trapped and drowned.
- Court filings say the tug’s radio was set to a drawbridge channel unrelated to the route, and the Coast Guard previously reported negative toxicology results for everyone on both vessels.
- Seaman’s manslaughter makes maritime operators criminally liable for deaths caused by negligence, a standard that could sharpen oversight of lookouts and visibility practices on crowded urban waterways.