Blog Post

Expert Testimony Reveals Hole in Fresno Boating Case Defense Theory


December 20, 2007
Topic: Boating Accidents

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.


The California personal injury attorneys at The Reeves Law Group represent victims of accidents, injuries and wrongful death throughout California from our offices in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Ventura County, Fresno County, Kern County, Sacramento County, San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Antelope Valley, Torrance, Glendale, Bakersfield, Santa Ana, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Ontario, and Victorville.