New arrest for passenger in Lake George boat crash

One of the people facing charges related to a fatal boating accident on Lake George in July was arrested again over the weekend, according to the Warren County Sheriff’s Office.

Cara Mia Canale, 27, of Hudson Falls, was arrested Sunday afternoon on Montcalm Street in the village of Lake George, after the sheriff’s office received multiple reports of a vehicle being operated erratically on Route 9 and Route 9L, according to a report from the sheriff’s office.

Canale was driving a 2009 Hyundai Elantra when she was pulled over, deputies said. She was arrested on charges including driving while ability impaired by drugs, reckless driving, failure to keep right and failure to stop at a red light.

Canale was charged in July with hindering prosecution and offering a false instrument in connection with the July 25 boat crash off Cramer Point that took the life of 8-year-old Charlotte McCue, a passenger in her grandparents’ boat. Those charges are pending.

Boat driver Alexander West, 24, of Queensbury, faces felony charges of leaving the scene of a personal injury and fatal boating accident in that case. Warren County Sheriff Nathan “Bud” York has said blood tests showed he had three classes of drugs in his system at the time of the crash.

Four passengers on the boat, including Canale, are accused of making false statements to police the night of the crash, in an apparent effort to protect West. West turned himself in the next morning.

Deputies said a search of Canale on Sunday resulted in multiple additional charges for misdemeanor seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. She is accused of possessing medication not prescribed to her and heroin, as well as criminal possession of a hypodermic instrument.

In the July boating crash, authorities believe West and the passengers on his boat had been partying earlier that day at Log Bay Day, a party held each July in a shallow bay on the east side of the lake that draws hundreds of young people.

The incident has led to an outcry against Log Bay Day. Last Friday, both the Warren and Washington county board of supervisors adopted resolutions calling for law enforcement to take measures to curb future Log Bay Days.