A 20-year-old man was sentenced to just six months in jail after hitting and killing a 12-year-old girl with a jet ski in southern California.
Arsanyous Refat Ghaly pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence on Thursday for the killing of Savannah Peterson last year.
Peterson was paddleboarding in Mission Bay in San Diego in July, 2023, when she was struck by the jet ski Ghaly was driving.
Prosecutors said Ghaly, who was 18 at the time of the crash, was driving at between 47-53mph in an 5pmh area – which the defense disputes.
Peterson died from several injuries including blunt force trauma to the head.
Arsanyous Refat Ghaly pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence on Thursday for the killing of Savannah Peterson last year. He is pictured in court in June
Peterson was paddleboarding in Mission Bay in San Diego in July, 2023, when she was struck by the jet ski Ghaly was driving
Ghaly’s guilty plea means he will serve a six-month sentence in county jail, 50 days in the work furlough program, and two years of probation, as reported by NBC San Diego.
Ghaly was initially arrested last November but bailed out and remains out of custody until his official sentencing next month.
Peterson’s family has filed a wrongful death suit against Ghaly, the city, and county of San Diego, among others.
The suit claims lifeguards allowed Ghaly to ‘operate the jet ski at an excessive rate of speed and out of control in the direction of Decedent until the Incident occurred.’
The complaint alleges that lifeguards had seen Ghaly and his friends driving at high speeds and had warned them to slow down 10 minutes before the fatal crash.
It also also names the two people who allegedly rented the jet ski to Ghaly despite him not having a California Boaters’ card as defendants.
The jet skies were rented through a website called OfferUp, per the lawsuit, which also names the co9mpany as a defendant.
The lifeguard said the man, who he identified as Ghaly, was traveling at an ‘incredibly high rate of speed’ near the cove, where the speed limit is five miles-per-hour
Peterson’s family has filed a wrongful death suit against Ghaly, the city, and county of San Diego, among others. Ghaly is seen outside court in June
Lifeguard John Kerr testified in a preliminary hearing earlier this year that before the fatal accident, he stopped a man on a green jet ski and gave him a warning,
The lifeguard said the man, who he identified as Ghaly, was traveling at an ‘incredibly high rate of speed’ near the cove, where the speed limit is five miles-per-hour.
Kerr added that moments after he stopped Ghaly, another man with an identical jet ski was pulled over for speeding. He said the man was Ghaly’s cousin, and that he was acting in a belligerent manner and refused to hand over his boater’s card.
The lifeguard then claimed that Ghaly drove to the area where the second man was stopped, and crossed dangerously close to his boat.
Kerr said he told the men: You’re gonna hurt somebody or you’re gonna hurt yourselves.’
The second driver’s jet ski was then impounded and Ghaly drove off.
As Kerr was towing the jet ski to shore, he said he heard the radio call about a crash 300 yards from where he was.
Peterson’s family said in a statement: ‘Our daughter was a bright, healthy 12-year-old who loved her family, her friends, playing soccer, and dreaming of her future. She is a light in our lives, and our hearts continue to break every day since we lost her.
‘Her death was a senseless, preventable tragedy for our family, including her younger brother, and for our community.
‘We are focused on making sure no other family is forced to endure the loss we live with every day. We filed this lawsuit to hold people and entities accountable, to create and maintain safe places, and to follow and enforce the laws that are meant to protect us all.
‘We are unwavering in our commitment to make Mission Bay a safe place for families and will work to ensure that this preventable tragedy spurs the change necessary to reach that goal.’
