Man on Jet Ski Who Ran Over 12 Year Old on Paddle Board Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter

A young man who struck and killed a young girl while a riding a jet ski in Mission Bay last year pleaded guilty Thursday to vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

Arsanyous Refat Ghaly, 20, admitted to causing the July 29, 2023, crash that killed Savannah Peterson, 12.

The victim was on a paddle board in the De Anza Cove area when she was struck by the watercraft at around 2 p.m. She was taken to a hospital, where she died of her injuries.

Ghaly, 18 at the time, was arrested last November. He remains out of custody and is set to be sentenced next month.

His guilty plea includes an agreement with prosecutors to a sentence of six months in county jail, 50 days in a work furlough program and two years of probation.

Prosecutors allege the crash occurred within an area where watercraft operators are required to stay below 5 miles per hour.

At a preliminary hearing held earlier this year, a police officer testified that data pulled from the jet ski indicated it was traveling between 47 to 53 mph at the time of the collision.

Ghaly's defense attorney, Hakim George Hakim, called the crash "a tragic accident" and argued at the hearing that his client was operating the watercraft more than 100 feet from shore, where it was permitted to pilot watercraft at higher speeds.

The fatality also led to a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of the girl's parents.

Ghaly is named as a defendant in the civil suit , along with the city and county of San Diego, among others.

The lawsuit faults city lifeguards for allegedly failing to prevent Ghaly from speeding on the jet ski. Others named as defendants include two people who allegedly rented out the jet ski to Ghaly and his friends despite the young men lacking California Boater's cards, which are required for people operating motorized vessels in the water.