"RG" wrote in news:aqwcb.5121$Rd4.4335@fed1read07:


"Calif Bill" wrote in message
nk.net...
Yup. Panic. Bail does seem high, when you do not get that high of
bail
for
Murder 1.

Certainly there was panic, Bill. Any of us would have felt panic.
But the real underlying reason for his fleeing was simply an
absolutely gigantic flaw in his character. A better man would have
tried to help survivors. I suspect the reason Insomniac had in mine
was blood alcohol content. I have little doubt that probably factored
into his decision to split, but we'll never know, unless his
passengers turn state's evidence against him. Even then, without a
BAC test as evidence, I'm not sure you can make that a significant
part of the case. Alcohol or not, he made the wrong moral choice to
flee, and he will pay dearly for that decision. He wrote his epitaph
by fleeing the scene of a fatal boating accident. He's not going to
get a break from any judge, and hopefully not from any jury.

BTW, the accident occurred at night during an unsanctioned racing
event, according to my local newspaper. No PFD's on anyone aboard
either vessel.



PFD's probably wouldn't have helped. According to the LA Times, who
interviewed witnesses, the driver of the fleeing boat tried to slow and
veer off at the last moment. This apparently caused the boat to slide
parallel with the victim's boat and then slide up and over, slamming into
the passengers in the process. They were probably dead on impact. Here's
a link to the article (good only to 9/30).

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...1,818614.story

Meanwhile, the biggest safety step that could have prevented this accident
is to stay out of Parker AZ! Its a death trap and has been for years. The
Colorado is not particulary wide there and for some reason all the crazies
are attracted to the area. I went there years ago on the recommendation of
a friend. I was there one day and saw that if I wanted to stay in one piece
I had to do something. I pulled the boat and launched it the next day a
few miles up river above Parker Dam which impounds Lake Havasu. I was like
night and day. That very weekend when I got home, there was an article in
the LA Times about the death rate at Parker on the river. Drunk boating is
rampant, and its not uncommon for abandoned wrecked boats to be discovered
on the shore line. And this was before PWCs were popular. It must be like
a demolition derby now. Can't really say, I never went back. This most
recent accident confirms the correctness of my earlier decision.