Man held on $1 million bond in boating crash that killed 3


Associated Press
Sept. 23, 2003 11:40 AM


LAKE HAVASU CITY - A California man was being held on $1 million bond in the
deaths of three people killed in a weekend boating accident.

Grier Dean Rush, 62, of Maywood, Calif., was charged with failure to stop
after a watercraft collision in Parker Justice Court on Monday.

Rush, the owner of Rush Performance Boats, was allegedly operating the boat
that struck a jet boat driven south of Parker Dam on Friday night by
Jonathan Herbert, 21, of Laguna Hills, Calif.

Herbert, his 18-year-old sister Jaquel Herbert and Ashley Rollins, 18, of
Mission Viejo, Calif., were killed in the crash. Another person in the boat,
18-year-old Josh Rogers, was critically injured.

Authorities initially thought Rush was one of the victims in the accident
because he couldn't be found after the collision. On Sunday, he turned
himself into La Paz County authorities.

I'd like to buy the judge a cocktail.

"Renegade" wrote in message
news:Q9bcb.10692$Ms2.6305@fed1read03...
Man held on $1 million bond in boating crash that killed 3


Associated Press
Sept. 23, 2003 11:40 AM


LAKE HAVASU CITY - A California man was being held on $1 million bond in
the
deaths of three people killed in a weekend boating accident.

Grier Dean Rush, 62, of Maywood, Calif., was charged with failure to stop
after a watercraft collision in Parker Justice Court on Monday.

Rush, the owner of Rush Performance Boats, was allegedly operating the
boat
that struck a jet boat driven south of Parker Dam on Friday night by
Jonathan Herbert, 21, of Laguna Hills, Calif.

Herbert, his 18-year-old sister Jaquel Herbert and Ashley Rollins, 18, of
Mission Viejo, Calif., were killed in the crash. Another person in the
boat,
18-year-old Josh Rogers, was critically injured.

Authorities initially thought Rush was one of the victims in the accident
because he couldn't be found after the collision. On Sunday, he turned
himself into La Paz County authorities.

He might not have been guilty of anything, until he fled the
scene of the crime. Sad... he should really have know better.

It's one thing to ram a boat that was making a U-turn in front
of you; quite another to motor away from bodies floating in
the water. Turns out Rush knew the Herbert family, but I
don't think he'll be selling them a boat, now.

-- frosty

Renegade wrote:
Man held on $1 million bond in boating crash that killed 3


Associated Press
Sept. 23, 2003 11:40 AM


LAKE HAVASU CITY - A California man was being held on $1 million bond
in the deaths of three people killed in a weekend boating accident.

Grier Dean Rush, 62, of Maywood, Calif., was charged with failure to
stop after a watercraft collision in Parker Justice Court on Monday.

Rush, the owner of Rush Performance Boats, was allegedly operating
the boat that struck a jet boat driven south of Parker Dam on Friday
night by Jonathan Herbert, 21, of Laguna Hills, Calif.

Herbert, his 18-year-old sister Jaquel Herbert and Ashley Rollins,
18, of Mission Viejo, Calif., were killed in the crash. Another
person in the boat, 18-year-old Josh Rogers, was critically injured.

Authorities initially thought Rush was one of the victims in the
accident because he couldn't be found after the collision. On Sunday,
he turned himself into La Paz County authorities.

On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 14:05:07 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

I'd like to buy the judge a cocktail.

"Renegade" wrote in message
news:Q9bcb.10692$Ms2.6305@fed1read03...
Man held on $1 million bond in boating crash that killed 3


Associated Press
Sept. 23, 2003 11:40 AM


LAKE HAVASU CITY - A California man was being held on $1 million bond in
the
deaths of three people killed in a weekend boating accident.

Grier Dean Rush, 62, of Maywood, Calif., was charged with failure to stop
after a watercraft collision in Parker Justice Court on Monday.

Rush, the owner of Rush Performance Boats, was allegedly operating the
boat
that struck a jet boat driven south of Parker Dam on Friday night by
Jonathan Herbert, 21, of Laguna Hills, Calif.

Herbert, his 18-year-old sister Jaquel Herbert and Ashley Rollins, 18, of
Mission Viejo, Calif., were killed in the crash. Another person in the
boat,
18-year-old Josh Rogers, was critically injured.

Authorities initially thought Rush was one of the victims in the accident
because he couldn't be found after the collision. On Sunday, he turned
himself into La Paz County authorities.




....ditto.
....carry on.
noah

To email me, please remove the "FISH" from the net.

Personally, I can only think of one reason why he wouldn't have stopped....

"frosty" wrote in message
...
He might not have been guilty of anything, until he fled the
scene of the crime. Sad... he should really have know better.

It's one thing to ram a boat that was making a U-turn in front
of you; quite another to motor away from bodies floating in
the water. Turns out Rush knew the Herbert family, but I
don't think he'll be selling them a boat, now.

-- frosty

Renegade wrote:
Man held on $1 million bond in boating crash that killed 3


Associated Press
Sept. 23, 2003 11:40 AM


LAKE HAVASU CITY - A California man was being held on $1 million bond
in the deaths of three people killed in a weekend boating accident.

Grier Dean Rush, 62, of Maywood, Calif., was charged with failure to
stop after a watercraft collision in Parker Justice Court on Monday.

Rush, the owner of Rush Performance Boats, was allegedly operating
the boat that struck a jet boat driven south of Parker Dam on Friday
night by Jonathan Herbert, 21, of Laguna Hills, Calif.

Herbert, his 18-year-old sister Jaquel Herbert and Ashley Rollins,
18, of Mission Viejo, Calif., were killed in the crash. Another
person in the boat, 18-year-old Josh Rogers, was critically injured.

Authorities initially thought Rush was one of the victims in the
accident because he couldn't be found after the collision. On Sunday,
he turned himself into La Paz County authorities.

Yup. Panic. Bail does seem high, when you do not get that high of bail for
Murder 1.
Bill

"Insomniac" wrote in message
news:bYscb.427351$cF.133256@rwcrnsc53...
Personally, I can only think of one reason why he wouldn't have
stopped....

"frosty" wrote in message
...
He might not have been guilty of anything, until he fled the
scene of the crime. Sad... he should really have know better.

It's one thing to ram a boat that was making a U-turn in front
of you; quite another to motor away from bodies floating in
the water. Turns out Rush knew the Herbert family, but I
don't think he'll be selling them a boat, now.

-- frosty

Renegade wrote:
Man held on $1 million bond in boating crash that killed 3


Associated Press
Sept. 23, 2003 11:40 AM


LAKE HAVASU CITY - A California man was being held on $1 million bond
in the deaths of three people killed in a weekend boating accident.

Grier Dean Rush, 62, of Maywood, Calif., was charged with failure to
stop after a watercraft collision in Parker Justice Court on Monday.

Rush, the owner of Rush Performance Boats, was allegedly operating
the boat that struck a jet boat driven south of Parker Dam on Friday
night by Jonathan Herbert, 21, of Laguna Hills, Calif.

Herbert, his 18-year-old sister Jaquel Herbert and Ashley Rollins,
18, of Mission Viejo, Calif., were killed in the crash. Another
person in the boat, 18-year-old Josh Rogers, was critically injured.

Authorities initially thought Rush was one of the victims in the
accident because he couldn't be found after the collision. On Sunday,
he turned himself into La Paz County authorities.

"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.

The only escape can be if he can convince a jury that he had no idea an
accident occurred.
It is possible to hit an object at high speed in the night time and not know
what it was.
Where I live the waters lurk with large tree trunks, lumber, entire trees.
I'm guessing Havasu has little of this stuff.
And, yes we're all convinced he'd been drinking.
Odd how this one ingredient can literrally shock one's mind into making a
terrible descision.

"RG" wrote in message 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.



I know he meant alcohol. But there is a gigantic thought to run when poop
like this happens. In my youth, driving a Corvette at 5 mph down the
street, a 5 year old ran into the side of the car. 1.5" of skid mark.
There was a big thought to flee. Did not, but the thought was there.
Lucky, according to the insurance adjuster, that I was not speeding. The
250 witnesses, except for one, said I was going very slow, including the
mother. The 1 decided I was going 90 and the tires were smoking, because I
was in a Vette. He may not have had insurance on the boat he was driving,
or did not cover him in his actions.
Bill

"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.