A man who drove his SUV into the Bay in San Francisco’s Marina District last month with three teenage passengers inside was acquitted of reckless driving and child endangerment charges Tuesday, according to the public defender’s office.
Agapito Hernandez, 38, was arrested early the morning of March 4 after witnesses told police that they saw him doing “donuts” in his 1999 Dodge SUV in the area of the Gashouse Cove Marina near Fort Mason before he lost control and his car plunged into the water.
Hernandez and the three teens in the car were all able to escape without injury, police said.
According to the public defender’s office, Hernandez had been on a late-night crabbing trip with his two sons and their friend.
Hernandez had tried to back out of a parking space in the lot at about 3 a.m., and when the car wouldn’t move, he hit the gas harder and the SUV spun out of control, going in one-and-a-half circles before driving into the water, according to the public defender’s office.
At the two-day trial in San Francisco Superior Court, Hernandez’s sons testified that the incident was an accident, according to the public defender’s office.
A jury deliberated for less than two hours on Tuesday before finding him not guilty of child endangerment, reckless driving and giving false information to an officer, according to the public defender’s office.
DanMcMenamin1035a04/18/12
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