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Mike OReilly · 10-12-2020, 18:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glory Days

As an addendum.............the captain of the boat that was hit has been charged with negligence. Failing to show nav lights.
Apparently they were star gazing !
R.

Isn't that old news? Weren't they charged right away, along with O'Leary's wife for unsafe operation... or something like that?

jstevens · 10-12-2020, 20:37

This sounds very similar to an infamous case from more than a decade ago, I think on Lake Tahoe. A high speed boat hit a small sailboat that was not showing any lights. One person in the sailboat was killed. Latitude 38 reported this case for several years. The operator of the power boat was cleared of any fault and the owner of the sailboat went through several years of legal fees and other issues. I'm sure the fact that the power boat driver was a local deputy sheriff had nothing to do with how the case of was handled.

John

**TrentePieds** · 11-12-2020, 08:10

Don't recall the media reporting of the incident very well, really, but there was certainly some speculation (reporting) in the press of someone having done a DUI. Was there not some speculation, also, that "media star" O'Leary was the one who'd been driving, and that his wife gallantly stepped in and took the whack for him?

I'm prolly just being cynical :-)

TP

**GordMay** · 10-03-2021, 05:48

Driver of 2nd boat in O'Leary crash convicted of failing to exhibit navigation light
The operator [Richard Ruh of Orchard Park, N.Y.] of one of the boats, in a 2019 fatal crash involving a vessel driven by Linda O'Leary, wife of businessman and reality TV star Kevin O'Leary, was convicted in absentia, last September, of failing to exhibit a navigation light. A conviction was entered Sept. 15, 2020, and Ruh was fined $150 plus a surcharge of $30.
Linda O'Leary, who was driving the other boat, was charged with careless operation of a vessel, under the Canada Shipping Act. Her trial is scheduled to start in June in Parry Sound, Ont.
The families of Gary Poltash, 64, from Florida, who died the night of the crash, and Susana Brito, 48, of Uxbridge, Ont., who died days later as a result of injuries sustained in the crash, have also filed civil suits.
Much more ➥ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/olear...rash-1.5942277

**GordMay** · 14-06-2021, 05:24

Trial for Linda O’Leary, charged in 2019 boat crash that left 2 dead, set to begin”
More ➥ https://globalnews.ca/news/7947264/l...t-crash-trial/

**GordMay** · 13-07-2021, 03:41

Linda O'Leary's blood alcohol in 'alert' range after deadly boat crash, officer testifies
O'Leary's breath sample indicated a blood alcohol range between 50 and 99 milligrams of alcohol, per 100 millilitres of blood.
In Ontario, anything between 50 and 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood is considered a warning range that carries a penalty of a fine and a licence suspension under the Highway Traffic Act for a first offence, though it does not lead to a criminal charge.

The operator of the other boat, Richard Ruh, of Orchard Park, N.Y., was also charged in the incident. He faced one count of failing to exhibit a navigation light while underway. He was issued a ticket and eventually paid the fine after contesting it for more than a year.

More ➥ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...rial-1.6099243

Nicholson58 · 13-07-2021, 05:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstevens

This sounds very similar to an infamous case from more than a decade ago, I think on Lake Tahoe. A high speed boat hit a small sailboat that was not showing any lights. One person in the sailboat was killed. Latitude 38 reported this case for several years. The operator of the power boat was cleared of any fault and the owner of the sailboat went through several years of legal fees and other issues. I'm sure the fact that the power boat driver was a local deputy sheriff had nothing to do with how the case of was handled.

John

I think you may be referring to the incident on Clear Lake in California.

Witnesses verified the sailboat was displaying lights. The heavily lighted shore obscures the sailboat’s lights, contributing. The off duty sheriff deputy driving the Power boat at excessive speed for the conditions was eventually cited and the sailboat owner cleared. The deputy is no longer in law enforcement but was given another public sector job for that county. Go figure! It took a very long time for this to make it through the court system. The account below and other detailed write-ups make it clear the sheriff department worked to obscure facts, hide evidence, protect the offending 50 mph deputy driver at the expense of the maimed and dead. My brother lives on the lake. Local reaction was shock and awe at the cover up.

https://www.boatus.com/expert-advice...ase-of-justice

**GordMay** · 15-07-2021, 05:01

Police re-enacted fatal boat crash involving Linda O'Leary — and this is what they found
The Ontario Provincial Police re-enacted the fatal boat crash on an exclusive Ontario cottage country lake, using a police vessel to simulate the speedboat of Linda and Kevin O’Leary heading towards the actual boat they hit, in which two people were killed while on a stargazing trip.

The results of the simulation prompted Detective-Constable Sean Richardson to charge the drivers of both boats, determining it was unlikely the boat that was hit had its overhead light on as it would ruin the view of the stars, but the O’Leary boat could likely still have seen it if it was moving slowly, court heard Wednesday.

More about ➥ https://nationalpost.com/news/police...hat-they-found

One video shows Linda O’Leary driving their speedboat up to the dock with her husband and Whiteside in the back. Another video, from shortly before the crash, shows the trio leaving the party.
➥ https://youtu.be/MZiB0xng1Ww
➥ https://youtu.be/9DoaWpmXpl8

The crash was captured by dockside surveillance cameras. In the distance on the lake, O’Leary’s well-lit boat suddenly stops and bounces back in the darkness. Moments later, several lights suddenly appear aboard the other boat.
➥ https://youtu.be/KaQwdSekfQg

**GordMay** · 20-07-2021, 04:48

Lack of lighting on hit boat was cause of fatal O'Leary crash, OPP specialist concluded

“The collision occurred due to the Nautique vessel failing to display proper navigational lights in the dark while on a waterway known as Lake Joseph,” is the conclusion of the collision reconstruction report of Constable Mark Phillips, court heard Monday, at the trial for Linda O’Leary, wife of reality television star Kevin O’Leary.

More about ➥ https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...list-concluded

dhenline · 20-07-2021, 05:43

thanks for the update

Lodesman · 20-07-2021, 15:53

You're never sure when you read these stories if the investigators are as amateurish as they sound, or if that's the ignorance of the journalist. Take this:

Quote:

Phillips participated in a re-enactment that the OPP did, on the same lake at about the same time of night. He said the lit OPP boat he was on, traveling at about 20 miles per hour, passed the unlit Nautique without even knowing it.
When the boat went more slowly, however, around five miles per hour, he saw the boat before they drew too close.

No mention of whether there was any moonlight or not, or consideration that the moon is not going to be the same percentage of illumination or place in the sky "at about the same time of night" at some unspecified number of nights after the fact. Claiming that you could see the boat when going slower is absolutely inane - the speed you're going has no effect on being able to see something - a given amount of light will make something visible at a specific distance; speed will then determine how much time is available to react.

kaisardog · 20-07-2021, 16:24

I d mayday my gps and souls on bd and get a coastguard or rmpc heli evac. Wonder who had right of Way ? 2 boats both under power, crossing, one wo lights ... soudns like a final Exam in a dvanced piloting.

**GordMay** · 21-07-2021, 05:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lodesman

You're never sure when you read these stories if the investigators are as amateurish as they sound, or if that's the ignorance of the journalist ...

... Claiming that you could see the boat when going slower is absolutely inane - the speed you're going has no effect on being able to see something - a given amount of light will make something visible at a specific distance; speed will then determine how much time is available to react.

There's more to it, than that.
For instance:

The faster you are moving, the more information the brain receives. However, the brain can only process a certain amount of information, at any given time, which means that at higher speeds, it has to eliminate a large amount of peripheral information.
The field of vision, therefore, decreases as speed increases.

“The Effect of Driving Speed on Driver’s Visual Attention: Experimental Investigation”
➥ https://link.springer.com/chapter/10...319-07515-0_18

“Influence of age, speed and duration of monotonous driving task in traffic on the driver’s useful visual field”
➥ https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...4269890400272X

Lodesman · 21-07-2021, 15:50

Peripheral information was irrelevant - it was dead ahead - they hit it.

Kevin O'Leary testified, and made the point that there was no moon and no background light:

Quote:

It was like complete darkness because at that point we were facing into the forest, where there are no lights, there are no cottages. No silhouette or anything.

He was probably prepped by someone who has a clue.