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Thread: update...Teacher in boat crash smelled of alcohol, marijuana

  1. #1
    ThongMagnet
    Deputy: Teacher in boat crash smelled of alcohol, marijuana
    Sarah Muench
    The Arizona Republic
    Oct. 24, 2006 09:50 AM
    AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS - The owner of an Ahwatukee school and driver of a boat involved in a deadly crash last summer near Lake Havasu smelled of marijuana and alcohol after the collision, according to a Mohave County Sheriff's Office report obtained by the Arizona Republic.
    More than four months after the crash that killed a California man and sent 10 Ahwatukee Foothills schoolteachers overboard, authorities have yet to release the blood alcohol content of the boat drivers, according to the documents.
    Eyewitness accounts vary, with some saying Shetal Jagdish Walters, 43, owner of Desert Garden Montessori School in Ahwatukee, drank alcohol before driving the boat and others saying she didn't drink at all, according to the report. advertisement
    But a Sheriff's deputy noted, "I could smell a slight odor consistent with the inhalation of marijuana on Walters' person. I also detected a slight odor consistent with the consumption of alcohol emitting from Walters' person," according to the report.
    The Mohave County Sheriff's Office still has not released the toxicology results from the accident and it is unknown if Walters or the driver of the other boat, David Adam Ramsey, 33, were impaired.
    The Office is waiting on results from the state Department of Public Safety, where they outsource their lab tests, and waiting is routine, said Trish Carter, spokeswoman for the Mohave County sheriff.
    “We're waiting,” Carter said Tuesday in a phone interview. “We're playing the waiting game.”
    In a written statement to authorities, Walters did not mention alcohol consumption.
    "We all flew out, I was thrown over and looked up to find my boat in shambles and my friends scattered all over, I panicked and began looking for our 15 members in our party," wrote Walters, who gave permission for a blood test.
    Deputies took blood and urine samples from both drivers. A boat's driver is BUI, or boating under the influence, at 0.08 percent blood alcohol level in Arizona, California and Colorado.
    Esther Geel, a passenger on Walters' boat who was injured in the crash, told authorities that Walters had not consumed alcohol during or before the trip, according to the report.
    Teacher and passenger Janelle Smith told deputies all passengers had breakfast burritos and a few had Bloody Mary's before the crash, but couldn't remember who was drinking, the report shows.
    Smith, who said she was six weeks pregnant at the time of the crash and not drinking, suffered a broken leg and four-inch laceration to the right side of her head. She was flown to a Las Vegas hospital.
    Another teacher, Marti Player, who suffered a leg injury that required skin grafts, told deputies that everyone on the boat had been drinking Bloody Mary's, including Walters, who was making the drinks, according to the report.
    Player also said during the trip toward the crash site, everyone on the boat was drinking various types of alcohol, including Walters, who had two or three bottles of Corona beer, according to the report.
    " . . . from my recollection, Shetal Walters was driving the boat at that moment there was consumption of alcohol on the boat but I don't know how much each individual consumed," said Terri Pintus, a passenger of Walters' boat in a written statement to deputies.
    Witnesses also said a male driver was operating the boat before Walters took over during the trip, the report shows. No one on the boat was wearing a life vest, the reports stated.
    Jill Corson, a passenger on Walters' boat, said Walters zigzagged with movements to try to avoid the other boat, but the two watercrafts ended up in a head-on course and she heard Walters scream and knew the boats were going to hit, the report shows.
    Corson told deputies she saw people in the water and started throwing life jackets to everyone, according to documents.
    In a statement to the Arizona Republic, Walters' attorney Douglas Fitch said Aug. 30 that Walters was not impaired while operating her boat. "Shetal Walters, the operator of one of the boats involved in an accident at Lake Havasu on June 3, was not under the influence of alcohol . . . she took appropriate evasive action in her attempt to prevent this extremely unfortunate accident. We will await the full police report before making further comment," Fitch wrote in an e-mail.
    Fitch said he is a parent of a student who attends the school.
    Both boats were speeding at 35 to 40 mph in Jopps Harbor, a heavily traveled, narrow waterway commonly referred to as "Speed Alley," and failed to take corrective action to avoid the crash, the report shows. Authorities also believe Walters' operating inexperience contributed to the accident, the report shows.
    A California man, David George Ramsey, 54, was ejected from his boat. His body was found June 16 in the lake. Ten of the 15 teachers were thrown overboard in what authorities have described as a "T-bone" crash. Many were hurt, but two were seriously and critically injured.
    Teacher Heather Storck, 35, the most critically injured from Walters' boat, had been listed in critical condition for about two weeks before she was released from a Las Vegas hospital.
    The local teachers were attending an annual retreat hosted by Walters at her Lake Havasu City vacation home and were boating about 3:20 p.m. just north of Lake Havasu on the Colorado River when the two high-performance boats met head on.

  2. #2
    ratso
    Inexperience is just as bad as operating under the influence...

  3. #3
    Howie Feltersnatch
    I'm always amazed that none of these people ever slow down. They just zig zag all over the place until they run into each other. When I see somebody coming toward me that looks like they might be a problem I turn AND slow down.

  4. #4
    Sherpa
    I never did know what type of boats were involved in the crash.
    the story lists:
    The two high-performance boats involved in the crash.
    what kind of boats were these if anyone knows-??
    and why is a person driving a "high performace boat" that has little
    experience-???
    --Sherpa

  5. #5
    catman-do
    The teacher was on an Advantage Party cat and the other guy with his son (driver) was I believe in an eliminator.

  6. #6
    Havasu_Dreamin
    why is a person driving a "high performace boat" that has little experience-???
    --Sherpa
    Anyone can walk in and buy a boat.....

  7. #7
    Not So Fast
    How many of us abide by the rules of the road when facing on coming traffic?? I do and have been forced to come to a complete stop numerous times by IDIOTS that do not apply these rules. Just act like you are driving a freekin car on the road and it will get you out of 90% of these types of jams. Of course this excludes PWC riders (90%) that believe the river is thier playtoy for spinouts and herky-jerky driving habits which nobody understands NSF

  8. #8
    91nordic29
    Anyone can walk in and buy a boat.....
    and do...
    that is why we have to watch out for ourselves because there are so many inexperienced, clueless about boating rules, morons etc... out there.
    like they say, more money than sense

  9. #9
    Havasu_Dreamin
    and do...
    that is why we have to watch out for ourselves because there are so many inexperienced, clueless about boating rules, morons etc... out there.
    like they say, more money than sense
    Just last weekend, crusing South past Copper Canyon, we're on the CA side of the lake, AS WE SHOULD BE, probably 150 yards offshore. Anyway, some jackass coming North aint moving over to the AZ side so we give him a wide berth and just let him pass us going North between us and the CA shore! .....It's counter-clockwise people!

  10. #10
    Not So Fast
    Just last weekend, crusing South past Copper Canyon, we're on the CA side of the lake, AS WE SHOULD BE, probably 150 yards offshore. Anyway, some jackass coming North aint moving over to the AZ side so we give him a wide berth and just let him pass us going North between us and the CA shore! .....It's counter-clockwise people!
    H.D.,Again, even if both boats are on one side of the lake for whatever the reason, when you face on coming traffic stay to the right (your right) and apply the RULES OF THE ROAD, it seems so simple huh? NSF

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