Boat accident kills city woman in Michigan, Updates

A Winnipeg woman is dead following an accident involving a speedboat and a cabin cruiser near Detroit Sunday evening.

Sixty-eight-year-old Nancy Axford was killed when a Baja speedboat slammed into the side of a large Bayliner cabin cruiser in the south channel of the St. Clair River, which is just off of Harsen's Island near the international border between southern Ontario and Michigan.

Axford was one of two people killed in the crash. A Michigan man, Robert Koontz, 57, was also pronounced dead at the scene. Axford's husband avoided injury. Three others on board suffered injuries, with one woman listed in critical condition Monday.

“ 'I spend all my time on the water and you just know when something is going to happen and sure enough, yet another idiot in a powerboat' -- Alan Block, who witnessed the crash

The fatal accident occurred at about 6:45 p.m. Sunday.

Alan Block was on the water and witnessed the crash. He said he knew something bad was going to happen when he saw the 10-metre Baja boat skipping off the wakes left by the 13-metre Bayliner and another similar-sized boat. "I spend all my time on the water and you just know when something is going to happen and sure enough, yet another idiot in a powerboat," said Block, a senior editor at the Sailing Anarchy website.

Block described the Baja travelling about 80 to 90 kilometres per hour at the time of the accident. The south channel of the St. Clair River is about 500 metres wide, so there was plenty of room for the speedboat to navigate past the Bayliner, but not at that speed.

Once the driver of the Baja started bouncing off the waves, he had already lost control.

"When a little boat hits a big wake, you're along for the ride," Block said. "You're basically flying through the air at that point and you can't steer the boat."

Block said it was a gorgeous day to be on the water -- sunshine, light breeze -- and many were out enjoying the late afternoon/early evening conditions. He said the people on the cabin cruiser had no idea the Baja was approaching until it was too late.

"I don't think they had any idea what was coming their way," Block said. "No idea. They were just minding their own business, probably just chatting and looking ahead.

"They wouldn't have been able to do anything (if they saw it) anyway."

Sgt. Tim Donnellon, a spokesman for the St. Clair County Sheriff's office, said it looked as if the Baja became airborne and crashed into the port (left) side of the Bayliner. The impact smashed the flying bridge off its supports and hurled the three people on the bridge into the water.

The three people on the main deck -- Axford, Koontz and his wife -- were killed or seriously injured.

"It hit the cruiser port side, almost through the boat to the starboard side," Donnellon said Tuesday. "The Baja hit the other side and then slid back out the port side back into the water."

A 32-year-old man from nearby Chesterfield Township in Michigan was arrested on alcohol-related charges. Donnellon said the man was released pending the results of the blood work he submitted following the crash.


Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 6, 2014 A5

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/loc...270106351.html

Boater released pending tests after fatal crash

Two killed, three injured in incident on Lake St. Clair

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLAY TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Southeastern Michigan authorities say a man accused of crashing his speedboat into a cabin cruiser, killing two people and injuring three, has been released from custody.

St. Clair County authorities say in a statement today that the 32-year-old man from Macomb County’s Chesterfield Township was released pending toxicology results from the Michigan State Police Crime Lab and final results accident investigation results.

Authorities earlier said he was intoxicated.

The crash happened about 6:45 p.m. Sunday off Harsens Island in Lake St. Clair. The island is part of Clay Township, about 30 miles northeast of Detroit.

The St. Clair County sheriff’s department identified the dead passengers as 57-year-old Robert Koontz of Chesterfield Township and 68-year-old Nancy Axford of Winnipeg, Manitoba. No one in the 25-foot speedboat was hurt.

http://www.toledoblade.com/State/201...tal-crash.html

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Update

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/h...s-out/27865166

Man charged in fatal boat crash bound to circuit court

Marlene Koontz and her family sat in St. Clair County District Judge John Monaghan's courtroom Wednesday morning as the man charged in the crash that took her husband's life waived his preliminary examination.

Sixty-two-year-old Koontz — who used a walker in court — also was injured in the Aug. 3 boat crash near Harsens Island that resulted in the deaths of her husband, Robert Koontz, 52, and Nancy Axford, 68, of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Brandon Verfaillie, 32 of Chesterfield Township, is charged with two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death and one count of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury.

He answered questions with yes and no before being bound over as charged to circuit court after waiving Wednesday's evidentiary hearing. A circuit court arraignment date has not yet been scheduled.

Officials said Verfaillie was the driver of a 25-foot Baja power boat when it rode up and over a cabin cruiser in the St. Clair River's South Channel.

Robert and Marlene Koontz and Axford were on board the cabin cruiser.

Verfaillie was arrested after the crash, but later released.

At his arraignment, Verfaillie's bond was set at $75,000 cash or surety, which was continued Wednesday.

Per the conditions of his bond, Verfaillie must not drink alcohol and must wear an alcohol sensitive tether. He also cannot operate an automobile or boat.

Verfaillie was not in custody Wednesday.

Senior prosecutor Mona Armstrong said in court that she and Verfaillie's lawyer, James C. Thomas, hope to reach an agreement in the case by the pretrial hearing.

"We've had some discussions," Armstrong said, after the hearing. "There's no guarantee at this point as to how this case will conclude."

Thomas declined comment after the hearing.

Marlene Koontz and her family also declined comment outside the courtroom.

Contact Beth LeBlanc at (810) 989-6259 or eleblanc@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @THBethLeBlanc.

http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/...ourt/18537389/

I wonder what kind of agreement they are trying to reach? The charges are not ones that usually have any endings where things are negotiated down to anything one would consider a good deal. Unless their case is missing something key to having a 100% surety of conviction.

Chesterfield Twp. man pleads guilty in fatal boat crash

Port Huron — A 32-year-old Chesterfield Township man has pleaded guilty in a boat crash that killed two people near Harsens Island.

The Times Herald of Port Huron reports Brandon Verfaillie entered the plea Monday to two counts of operating a vessel while intoxicated and causing death and to one count of operating a vessel while intoxicated, causing serious injury.

The Aug. 4 incident occurred when a 25-foot Baja boat, driven by Verfaillie, hit the wake of a passing boat and went airborne before crashing into a cabin cruiser in a channel of the St. Clair River, killing 52-year-old Robert Koontz of Chesterfield Township and 68-year-old Nancy Axford of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Three other people were also injured in the crash.

According to witnesses, the Baja was being driven at a high rate of speed just before the crash occurred. The crash occurred on a clear evening at about 7 p.m. Of the three people on the Baja, only Verfaillie was arrested.

"I came to a stop because I knew something was going to happen," said Alan Block, who is a local sailboat racer and senior reporter for Sailing Anarchy, who was near the crash in August.

Michigan State Police found Verfaillie’s blood alcohol content was 0.105 shortly after the crash. The legal limit on water is 0.1.

He faces up to 15 years in prison for each of the deaths and five years in prison for injury.

Verfaillie, who is is out on a $75,000 cash surety bond, will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 20. He also faces two civil lawsuits.

Marie T. Koontz, 78, who is the mother of the victim and lives in Phoenix, said her son was on the boat with his wife of 20 years, Marlene, in what was supposed to be one of their final trips of the summer on the water with friends.

The Associated Press contributed.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...rash/20132055/

Chesterfield Township man gets five years for boat crash that killed two

A Chesterfield Township man responsible for a pair of deaths on a St. Clair County waterway learned his fate Tuesday afternoon.

Brandon Verfaillie pleaded guilty and was sentenced Tuesday for careless actions that led to the deaths of Robert Koontz, 57, of Chesterfield Township, and Nancy Axford, 68, of Winnipeg, Manitoba last summer while boating with friends in the South Channel off Harsens Island.

The sentence handed down by Judge Michael West was the maximum penalty for operating a vessel while intoxicated causing death maximum and maximum penalty for operating a vessel while intoxicated causing serious injury. The sentences will be served concurrently, so the minimum he will serve is five years. The sentences can be served consecutively, or concurrently, in the state of Michigan, depending on the judge’s discretion

“Representatives for the victims made statements about the devastating experience they suffer with every day,” St. Clair County Assistant Prosecutor Mona Armstrong said.

West listened to statements from Axford’s husband, Bob Axford and Koontz’s step daughter before handing down the ruling.

Verfaillie’s defense attorney, James Thomas, said his client acknowledged responsibility for his actions “from the beginning.”

During the sentencing, he said Verfaillie, 32, had a chance to speak to the families of his remorse. Of the verdict, Thomas remarked the sentence will cause him to pay for his misdeeds while still ensuring he has a life outside of prison.

"Judge West understands that he must give a punishment and 60 months is a punishment. But he also understands that he wanted to give Mr. Verfaillie a chance to still have a life with his family.”

Verfaillie was operating a 25-foot Baja, which struck and ran over a cabin cruiser, killing Koontz and Axford. There were three others injured and transported to hospitals. Verfaillie pleaded guilty to two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death and one count of operating a vessel while intoxicated causing serious injury before St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Michael West in December.

Authorities found alcohol was a factor in the crash after Verfaillie’s blood alcohol content, taken by the Michigan State Police, registered as .105 percent. The legal limit of intoxication in boating was 0.10 percent.

The report also helped spur a change in Michigan law. The legal limit of intoxication was changed from .10 for boaters and snowmobilers to .08, the same standard applied to drivers of motor vehicles.

http://www.macombdaily.com/general-n...hat-killed-two

I am not sure what Verfaille was thinking when he crashed his Baja. Though police can’t put charges of DUI as it’s still below legal threshold but it does present a solid case. My friend who works with a Los Angeles DUI lawyer told me that his sentence can get compounded multiple times if it gets proven that he was under influence of alcohol.