Drunken Boater To Serve At Least 5 Years In Fatal Crash Near Harsens Island
PORT HURON (WWJ/AP) - A 32-year-old man has been sentenced to spend at least five years in prison Tuesday for a crash that killed two people near Harsens Island in eastern Michigan.
Brandon Verfaillie told the court on Tuesday that he deeply regrets what happened last August when his speedboat smashed into a cabin cruiser in a channel of the St. Clair River. Relatives of the victims said the tragedy will linger.
"I want you to appreciate that I never got to say goodbye to my wife," Robert Axford said in court.
Verfaillie will be eligible for parole after five years. His maximum sentence is 15 years in prison.
The victims were Robert Koontz, 52, of Chesterfield Township and Nancy Axford, 68, of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Three others on the cabin cruiser were injured. No injuries were sustained by Verfaillie or his two passengers.
Michigan State Police found Verfaillie's blood alcohol content was 0.105 shortly after the crash. At the time, the legal limit on water was 0.10. (It has since been lowered to .08)
"If he could take back what happened on that day he would," defense attorney James Thomas said. "It's easy to demonize someone who's involved with a case like this."
Verfaillie's driver's license was suspended at the time of the crash, St. Clair County Judge Michael West said.
"It was clearly preventable on multiple fronts and it is a shame that things happened the way that they happened," he said of the crash.
Verfaillie pleaded guilty to operating a vessel while intoxicated–causing death and operating a vessel while intoxicated–causing serious injury.
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