Antonio Omari Lewis was arrested and charged Wednesday after a Jet Ski crash at Sand Hollow Reservoir left two women missing and pushed a search into recovery mode. Lewis, 23, of Henderson, Nevada, was charged in 5th District Court with two counts of automobile homicide, along with improper navigation in a wakeless area and failing to obey waterway markers.
The case drew attention because the search began Tuesday afternoon and quickly turned grim. Two women were reported missing around 4:20 p.m., and the Utah Department of Natural Resources said they were last seen in the southern portion of Sand Hollow Reservoir. Park rangers searched with sonar, drones and aircraft for about 90 minutes before the effort changed from rescue to recovery at about 5:30 p.m., while the Washington County Search and Rescue Dive Team kept working until about 9:30 p.m. before calling off the search for the night.
Investigators said Lewis, the two women and a dog were on a personal watercraft Tuesday afternoon, and no one on board was wearing a life jacket. Police and witnesses said the group was thrown from the Jet Ski after it struck a cross-wave, and the two women did not resurface. A bystander brought Lewis to shore, and officers later found him under the influence of alcohol. He failed field sobriety tests and was placed under arrest for automobile homicide.
Lewis told investigators the women had been urging him to go faster. He also said he accelerated and made a sharp turn when a wave hit the side of the craft, then held onto one of the women for about five to 10 minutes before letting go. He said he was going in and out of consciousness and that another recreator dragged him to shore. A witness said Lewis, who was described as a lifeguard, did not want to wear a life jacket because he felt he would look like a fool, and had earlier been turned away from another rented Jet Ski after refusing a personal flotation device.
Along with the homicide counts, Lewis faced six infractions, including three counts of failing to wear a life jacket, not having enough life jackets on the Jet Ski, not having current registration for the Jet Ski and an invasive mussel species violation. One missing woman was described by a friend as being 4½ months pregnant with twins. The search at Sand Hollow Reservoir moved from rescue to recovery on Tuesday evening, and the next step was a return to the site with more resources on Wednesday morning.
