TORONTO – Linda O’Leary has been charged by the Ontario Provincial Police over an incident that was first reported on August 29, 2019.
The OPP have charged Linda O’Leary with careless operation of a vessel, contrary to the Canada Shipping Act. If convicted of careless operation of a vessel, the charge carries a sentence of up to 18 months imprisonment and a fine of up to $1 million.
The driver of the other vessel has been also charged. Richard Ruh faces a charge of the operation of a vessel without running lights. This charge brings a fine if convicted.
O’Leary’s lawyer, Brian Greenspan says in a statement that what happened is “a terrible tragedy.” Greenspan adds, “… But we find it regrettable that the OPP has chosen to charged Mrs. O’Leary under the shipping regulations in circumstances where the person has always been a cautious, and certainly experienced boater, came in a collision with an unlit craft on a dark and moonless night on Lake Joseph,”
In August, NetNewsLedger reported, “The OPP reportedly tested O’Leary’s wife for possible DUI and the test came back negative.
According to TMZ, O’Leary has claimed the other boat did not have its running lights on at the time of the incident: “O’Leary tells TMZ, ‘Late Saturday night I was a passenger in a boat that had a tragic collision with another craft that had no navigation lights on and then fled the scene of the accident. I am fully cooperating with authorities’.”
Gary POLTASH, age 64, from Florida, United States of America, was fatally injured at the scene.
On August 27, 2019, Susanne BRITO, age 48, from Uxbridge, Ontario, succumbed to her injuries in hospital.
