Stiffer BWI penalties possible in New York

Posted on 06 August 2012

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A 47-year-old man from Nassau County, N.Y., was arrested Sunday and accused of operating a 22-foot boat while intoxicated with 16 minors aboard.

Charles Miller, 47, of Manhasset, was charged with boating while intoxicated, endangering the welfare of a child and reckless operation of a vessel, according to The Suffolk Times newspaper.

The incident near the Greenport breakwater follows the far-more-publicized Independence Day capsize of a 34-foot Silverton in Oyster Bay in which three children died. Alcohol was not considered a factor in that accident.

The parents of a 7-year-old girl killed in the Oyster Bay capsize plan to join enforcement officials and safety advocates in testifying Wednesday at a state hearing on toughening boating laws, according to a report by Long Island’s Newsday.

A separate fatal boating accident, which investigators believe is alcohol-related, has New York state lawmakers proposing to make penalties for drunken boating more in line with drunken-driving laws and requiring all boaters to pass a safety course in order to prevent fatalities such as the recent tragedies on Long Island waterways, according to a report by the Long Island Press.

State Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick) announced legislation that would make boating while intoxicated a felony if a child is aboard, increase penalties for those with a blood alcohol content of 0.18 percent or higher and have drunken boating result in a driver’s license suspension. The legal limit for drunken boating is 0.08 percent, the same as drunken driving.

Comments

3 Tuesday, 07 August 2012 03:56

By e.norm.schitz......

if he was really drunk, then fine....it was 1252pm idiot malcontent doube standard people. lets see what really happened here people. Any possibility that police may have jumped the gun again????

doubtful a man or a father is drunk on a boat w 15 kids.

2 Monday, 06 August 2012 18:05

By tigerpilot

With all the boaters in New York they can maintain the same percentage of stupidity but produce more overall jerks.
Increasing the fines will have no effect-what is called for is jail time.

1 Monday, 06 August 2012 16:47

By Capt Philip Topps, AMS

As if the BWI wasn't enough, this idiot had 17 people on a 22 ft vessel?
Wasn't the July 4th incident enough to wake people up to the stupid, dangerous behavior taking place on the waterways?
Never underestimate the capability of stupid people, and what they are likely to do. Thankfully, no one is reported to have been injured in THIS particular event, but it is certain to occur before the season ends, somewhere.

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