Commission: BWI crackdown on Lake George

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

LAKE GEORGE — Patrols on Lake George have begun a crackdown on boating under the influence of drugs or alcohol, officials said.

The campaign so far has seen the arrest of two New Jersey men in one incident, with each accused of operating a boat while intoxicated, and charges against several teens accused of possessing alcohol while under the legal age in another incident, officials said.

Law enforcement on the lake will also take part in Operation Dry Water, a national boating while intoxicated awareness effort the weekend of July 1 that will include increased patrols and possible checkpoints, said Lt. Joe Johns, director of law enforcement for the Lake George Park Commission.

“It’s not a new focus, but it’s an increased awareness with everything that went on last year,” Johns said on Wednesday.

He was referring to the July 25 death of 8-year-old Charlotte McCue in a crash that happened when a powerboat operated by Alexander West slammed into the McCue family’s boat.

West was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison earlier this month, after a Warren County jury convicted him of manslaughter and assault, as well as boating while ability impaired by alcohol.

The July crash came after West spent the day partying at Log Bay Day, a yearly floating party on the lake.

Warren County and Lake George officials have since vowed to shut down the event this year. Johns said officials are still working on the final details of that effort.

During the recent crackdown, a patrol on Saturday arrested Thomas Hubay, 30, and Kyle Hubay, 28, brothers from Fairfield, New Jersey, both on charges of boating while intoxicated.

The arrest came after a caller told the Warren County Sheriff’s Office about the boat, saying the men were intoxicated. A commission patrol found the boat in Sawmill Bay, where it was seen moving faster than the 5 mph limit in the area.

As the patrol boat approached the boat, the officer watched as one brother operating the boat switched places with the other, so the officer watched the other man drive the boat, as well. The officer then determined both men to be intoxicated, Johns said.

Johns noted that finding intoxicated boat operators can be more difficult than finding intoxicated motorists. Weaving cars crossing pavement lines can provide a reason to stop a driver, but lakes have no such lines and constantly weave, he said.

“You really have to be very alert to find a violation in order to stop them,” Johns said.

The commission’s patrol boats work with boats from the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and state police.

State numbers show BWI charges are rare, compared to the number of people accused of operating cars while intoxicated.

Fulton and Warren counties had the most BWI arrests in the greater Capital Region from 2014 to 2016. Each recorded at least six during the three-year span. Saratoga County recorded five, while Schenectady County recorded two, according to the state Department of Criminal Justice Services.

Boating while intoxicated convictions carry penalties as harsh as DWI convictions, according to state law.

As with motor vehicles, the legal limit for BWI is a blood alcohol content of 0.08. The maximum sentence for a first-offense conviction is one year in jail. Subsequent convictions also turn into felonies, as is the case with DWI.

In the other case cited by Johns Tuesday, the commission’s marine patrol cited a group of six teens, all 18 or 19, from Massachusetts for possessing alcohol under the legal age.

The patrol confiscated 76 beers and a bottle of tequila from them and also cited them for not having enough life preservers in the boat. The patrol also removed them from a state campsite for violation of state rules. Officials determined the operator not to be intoxicated in that case.