2 women missing, presumed dead at Sand Hollow; jet ski driver charged

HURRICANE, Washington County — A Nevada man accused of crashing while riding a jet ski at Sand Hollow Reservoir with two female passengers who remain missing — including a woman whose friend says she was 4½ months pregnant with twins — has been arrested.

Antonio Omari Lewis, 23, of Henderson, Nevada, was arrested and on Wednesday charged in 5th District Court with two counts of automobile homicide, a second-degree felony; improper navigation in a wakeless area and failing to obey waterway markers, class C misdemeanors; and six infractions including three counts of failing to wear a lifejacket, not having enough life jackets on his jet ski, not having current registration for his jet ski, and an invasive mussel species violation.

On Tuesday, two women were reported missing around 4:20 p.m. The Utah Department of Natural Resources said they were last seen in the southern portion of the reservoir.

According to a police booking affidavit, park rangers "continued to search for the missing females utilizing resources such as sonar, (drones) and aircraft for approximately 90 minutes before they transitioned from a rescue operation to a recovery operation at approximately 5:30 p.m. The Washington County Search and Rescue Dive Team was paged to the scene and conducted search operations without success until approximately 9:30 p.m., when the search was called off for the night, with plans to resume operations with additional resources (Wednesday) morning."

Lewis, two women and a dog were on a personal watercraft on Tuesday afternoon. No one was wearing a life jacket, according to police and witnesses.

"After striking a cross-wave on the lake, the occupants on the personal watercraft were ejected from the vessel. The two female victims failed to resurface. A bystander brought operator Antonio Lewis to shore. Lewis was found to be under the influence of alcohol by investigating officers. After completing field sobriety tests, Lewis was found impaired under the influence of alcohol and placed under arrest for automobile homicide," the affidavit states.

When questioned, Lewis claimed "the females had been telling him to go faster. He advised that he accelerated and sharply turned when they were hit on the side by a wave that caused them to fall off of the vehicle. Mr. Lewis made statements about holding on to one of the females as long as he could before letting her go in an attempt to keep himself above water," according to the affidavit. Lewis further states that he held onto the woman for about five to 10 minutes "before he couldn't hold on to her any longer and let go. Mr. Lewis made statements about going in and out of consciousness. Mr. Lewis advised that he was then dragged to shore by another recreator in the area."

Another witness told police that Lewis is a lifeguard and "didn't want to wear a life jacket while operating the jet ski because he felt that he would look like a fool," according to the affidavit. "One witness advised that earlier in the day Mr. Lewis attempted to operate a different rented jet ski, but he had been denied access due to refusal to wear a personal flotation device."

Lewis failed several sobriety tests administered by police, including not being able to put his finger on his nose, the affidavit states.

"Lewis did not make contact with his fingertip to the tip of his nose with his left and right hand, and did not bring his right hand down from his nose within the allotted time," police stated.

Shortly after park rangers arrived, "they observed that the dog had been located and was being cared for by witnesses on shore."

Additional information about the two missing women, who are presumed dead, was not immediately available.

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