Police say 39 year old Christopher Mannino of West Islip was sitting on the back of a pleasure boat when a smaller catamaran speedboat came careening into it.
It happened around 5 o clock Saturday morning just under the bridge of the Robert Moses Causeway in the Great South Bay.
Mannino was thrown off the back.
Police have arrested the driver of the smaller boat, 26 year old Brian Andreski of Dix Hills.
Theyve charged him with boating while intoxicated.
Andreski and his passenger had to be pulled from the water after the boat flipped over.
They were taken to Good Samaritan Hospital.
The search for Mannino began almost instantaneously, the Coast Guard and Suffolk County police looking everywhere for him.
Those like Raymond Winberry, who knows the driver of the larger boat, also tried to help.
"I got a text message and I jumped out of my little boat."
"I went out there with friends and neighbors. We were all searching around," said Winberry.
But Saturday afternoon, emergency responders found Mannino's body in the Great South Bay.
Winberry says the driver of the larger boat, a licensed captain, is sick over this entire thing.
"He's very shaken up as any one of us would be, as you would be, you'd be devastated. How do you get through a situation like that?" said Winberry.
Four people remained on Mannino's 38-foot boat, which started to sink. They called 911 for help, and were not injured.
Suffolk police said they were investigating how fast the speedboat was traveling before the wreck.
Some models of the craft are capable of speeds exceeding 100 mph.
(Story contains information from The Associated Press)
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