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Boat Operator to Face DUI Charges in Manteca, California Boating Accident
July 10, 2008

Even as he was being wheeled into surgery, Manteca Fire Marshal Marvin Mears was more concerned about the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast he was in charge of on Friday than he was about the serious injuries he received in a boating accident on Tuesday. A hugely admired former firefighter, Mears had received serious injuries in a ski boat accident in the San Joaquin Delta.

The ski boat collided with a sailboat at midnight on Tuesday. Mears was severely injured, and had to be rushed to emergency surgery. The operator of the ski boat, it was later found, had been operating the boat under the influence of alcohol. 32-year-old Christopher Baker has been arrested for driving the vessel while under the influence of alcohol, and causing serious injury.

There is no report yet on Mears' condition following his surgery. The UC Davis Medical Center ICU unit where he had spent the days since the boating accident has been full of well-wishers, including former firefighter buddies who streamed in to show their support.

Alcohol use plays a big part in boating accidents that occur around California. Maybe its the feeling of being out on the water on a bright and sunny day that gives many boat operators the illusion that "drunk driving" is not really drunk driving if it's on the water. Since the act of boating itself seems recreational, it's easy to make the mistake of thinking that you can behave as if you were on a holiday. The truth is that you need your faculties on the water as much as you would if you had to avoid a drunk driving accident on the road. Christopher Baker either isn't aware of the dangers of driving a vessel while drinking, or couldn't care less. We think it's the latter.

The authorities on their part need to do more to highlight boat safety so that accidents like these can be avoided. With the kind of speeds that ski boats can reach, the kind of potential danger and injuries that we're looking at is quite extreme. A joy ride doesn't take long to turn into a nightmare when you have an unsteady hand on the wheel.

As for Baker, he has to be held responsible for Marvin's injuries and his medical bills. Drunk driving accidents like this highlight the dangers of mixing alcohol with driving, and we can send out a strong message to future potential drunk driving offenders only if we are willing to make an example of offenders like Blake.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of boating accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

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Operator Charged in Fatal Tracy, California Boating Accident
June 23, 2008

Extreme negligence seems to have been the main causal factor in a boating accident that took place near Tracy, California. Of the 10 men on board an aluminum fishing boat on the narrow Grant Line Canal, 4 were feared drowned on early Sunday.

Apparently, the 14-foot boat was designed for just six people. At least 10 fishermen were instead crammed onto the boat. The boating accident seems to have taken place very quickly. The aluminum boat quickly began taking on water, and before long, the boat was submerged and the men were in the water. Reports after the boating accident have confirmed that there was alcohol onboard the boat. Add to that the fact that some of the men didn't know how to swim, and it was 1 am when the boat began to sink, and you have some idea of the number of things that were neglected here.

The boat's operator, 43-year-old Daniel Cordova, swam ashore. Police say he was one of the people intoxicated that night on the boat. He has been booked on suspicion of manslaughter and boating under the influence of alcohol. His bail has been posted at $400,000, and he is scheduled to appear before court in Stockton on Tuesday.

Of the four men who drowned, only two bodies have been recovered by authorities.

The number of things that were criminally neglected or ignored in this boating accident are so numerous one doesn't even know where to begin. First of all, this was a boat that was designed to carry a maximum of 6 people. The boat began taking on water precisely because it couldn't handle the weight of the men. None of the men were wearing life jackets or preservers, police say. In fact, there was no semblance of any life-saving equipment on the boat. A fishing trip in an overcrowded boat, and with no safety equipment, and a bunch of men who couldn't swim was bound to go horribly wrong. Add alcohol into the equation, and disaster was unavoidable.

What kind of boat operator gets at the helm drunk anyway? Police say alcohol consumption was a major factor in the boating accident.

All men on the boat were from Oakland, but were natives of Guatemala. These are people who came here to labor on tasks that keep the wheels of our economy running. It's unfortunate they were killed due to such negligence. Now, many families that were dependent on these men's incomes no longer have a steady living to depend on. Funeral expenses to take the bodies back to Guatemala also will have to be borne, and these are bound to be exorbitant. Cordova and the owners of the boat have much answering to do as the case progresses.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of boat accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

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Investigations in Clear Lake, California Boat Accident Continues
June 02, 2008

Hearings are continuing in the boat accident case involving a Lake County deputy and a Carmichael man. The accident led to the death of a woman, whose family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against both men involved in the boat accident.

The series of incidents that led to the boat accident on Clear Lake in 2006 are complicated. Many back and forth allegations have come out during the preliminary hearings, which will decide if the man charged with manslaughter in the boating accident will face a trial.

That man, Bismarck Dinius, was at the helm of a sailboat on April 29, 2006. The boat was owned by Mark Weber, who was also on the sailboat. A powerboat being driven by Lake County Chief Deputy Russell Burdock crashed into the sailboat. The impact was strong enough to send the powerboat flying over the sailboat, breaking its mast.

Later, Russell Purdock accused Dinius of not illuminating the sailboat, claiming that he could not see the sailboat in the darkness because of the absence of lights This seems to be the point of contention between the two men, with Dinius claiming that the main illuminating source at the front or rear end of the sailboat was switched on at the time of the accident.

Expert testimony in the hearings has oscillated between the two sides in the case. A Department of Justice investigation into the boating accident concluded that the light had been switched off. Later, a private lighting expert, however, found that the position of the lights and its angle revealed that it was actually switched on at the time of the boating accident.

The boat accident hearing has also been marked by allegations that Dinius has been made the scapegoat in an accident for which Purdock is equally to blame. There has been criticism of the way that the boating accident investigation has been handled. No charges have been filed against Russell Purdock.

Purdock lays the blame for the accident squarely on Dinius, and the point that the lights were switched off. Dinius has said that Purdock was speeding at the time of the accident, and has been supported in this allegation by an expert boating witness who says that the accident occurred due to Purdock's speeding.

As the hearings have proceeded, the case has gotten even more tangled in an web of civil lawsuits that have been brought by the parties against each other. The family of the woman who was killed in the boating accident, 51-year-old Lynn Thornton of Willow, has filed wrongful death lawsuits against both the men. Purdock has filed a lawsuit against Dinius that alleges emotional distress, while Dinius has in turn brought a lawsuit against Purdock for injuries received during the boating accident.

The hearings are expected to continue through June 10.

If you have been injured in a boating accident, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury attorney. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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Expert Testimony Reveals Hole in Fresno Boating Case Defense Theory
December 20, 2007

A boating expert has delivered a potentially damaging testimony in the case of a Fresno boy whose head was almost split in two after the propeller of a boat caused him severe head injuries.

Dallen McEntire and his father Jeff were on Shaver Lake in Fresno County, California over the Memorial weekend in 2006, and Dallen was being pulled on his kneeboard. A boat driven by Roger Isaac Guzman made a sudden sharp turn, and slammed against 11-year-old Dallen, throwing him into the lake. His head collided with the boat's propellers, and he sustained severe head injuries. Guzman and his passenger Thomas Christopher Kirby fled the scene. Now, it appears that Guzman was under the influence of alcohol, besides having pathetic boating skills.

The defense attorneys claimed that the damage to the propeller was caused by a piece of wood. However, boating expert Harold Kindsvater testified on Friday that the dent couldn't have possibly been caused by a piece of wood since there were no scuff marks on it. It couldn't have been a rock either because paint didn't seem to have peeled off. It definitely hit something solid, he said, but it wasn't wood, or rock.

At this point one cringes thinking about the "solid object" that came in contact with the propeller - an 11-year-old boy's skull. Imagine the impact of a collision that was strong enough to have caused a propeller to dent. Now, imagine what the impact must have been on the young boy's head.

People who are stupid enough to drink and get behind the wheel do so on both land and water, it appears. If you have been injured, or a loved one has been killed by a drunk driver on a boat or on land, contact the California personal injury attorneys at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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