Canoeing under the influence!

[A930Rocket]

Who would’ve thought canoeing under the influence is a real thing?

https://www.foxnews.com/us/college-students-fatal-canoe-trip-takes-turn-lone-survivor-arrested-months-later


The lone survivor of a late-night canoe trip that left a 20-year-old college student dead is facing criminal charges after investigators alleged he had been drinking before the outing turned tragic.

Connecticut environmental police arrested Michael Collins, 20, of Mineola, New York, on a charge of operating a boat under the influence in the March drowning of Dominick Tocci, a 20-year-old from Woodstock, Connecticut.

Investigators say Collins and Tocci had been drinking with a group of friends before the two climbed into a canoe and pushed off onto Lake Hayward in East Haddam the night of March 21.

The trip quickly turned disastrous after the canoe capsized, sending both men into the water.

Tocci disappeared beneath the surface, sparking a massive search involving the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's (DEEP) Environmental Conservation Police, Connecticut State Police drone and dive teams, local fire departments and other emergency responders.

After a multi-day search, crews recovered Tocci's body from Lake Hayward the afternoon of March 23. Months later, EnCon Police sought an arrest warrant, alleging Collins had been operating the canoe while under the influence.

Collins turned himself in to EnCon Police on July 10, and he was arrested and charged with operating a boat under the influence. He was released on a promise to appear and is scheduled to appear in court July 23.

Authorities have not announced any additional criminal charges in Tocci's death.

[ramonesfreak]

I don’t think I have ever heard of anything as stupid as this charge. There is zero way to prove intoxication months later and if there are 2 in a canoe, both are operators. The kid died because the water was close to freezing and he wasn’t wearing a PFD or dry suite. When I am in my kayak, I have my PFD, water activated strobe, VHF radio with GPS locator, and would be wearing a dry suite that time of year. Until 2 weeks ago, the water was still very cold here. A couple kids made a bad decision. Shame on the parents of the victim if they have any say in bringing this charge.

[berettafan]

beyond stupid.

whoever instigated this charge is a total jackass.

[The Synergizer]

Like when they were arresting people for riding bicycles after a few beers.

[911 Rod]

Where do they draw the line? What about inflatables?
I can see it now. How did Bob lose his driver's license? He had a couple of beers at the beach and was floating around in a inflatable duck when they stormed the beach and nabbed him.

[GH85Carrera]

Here is Oklahoma City, we have an international canoeing competition about to start.

https://okc2026.com/

[onewhippedpuppy]

Connecticut has “environmental police”? That sounds totally made up.

This is honestly beyond stupid and reeks of trying to blame someone for a blameless situation. Was this kid the “captain” of the canoe?

[Jeff Higgins]

Many years ago a bunch of us held our annual "Tour de Bar" on the opening day of the Tour. It was about a 40 mile loop over the course of which we stopped at quite a few bars. It grew in popularity, eventually kind of getting out of hand to a degree. The year after I quit attending, the whole lot of them got hit with DUI charges. On their bicycles. I can't remember if any of them stuck.

Technically, here in Washington, one can get a DUI on a riding lawnmower. Worse, with a car on a lift or jack stands, with no wheels on it. So long as the keys are in the ignition.

[Zeke]

Riding a bike drunk is tantamount to drunk in public. Depending on the level of incapacitance, one can be in danger of hurting themselves, if not others. This is a chargeable offence whether disturbance is involved or not.

On the canoe deal I can see comparative negligence being considered, but that's going to be tricky. Depending on testimony, perhaps someone can be shown to have known better and there was inciting to engage in a dangerous activity. Could have been a 3rd party doing the encouraging. Or it was pure innocent stupidity for which there is no charge, unfortunately. Put the same two drunk idiots in a vehicle on private property and it's going to court. How is that so very different? Just for grins consider a tandem bike where one was steering even though the other may have caused an imbalance resulting in injury to either or both. Adding in intoxication makes it even more of a paradox. I think you can see the dilemma.

I'm not a lawyer but the words paradox and dilemma, along with other ambiguous words, must be a challenge to deal with regarding legal proceedings.

[Jeff Higgins]

I can absolutely see a "public drunkenness" type of a charge. But a DUI? On a bicycle? Thereby affecting one's driving privileges, insurance rates, and all of that? NFW. Just another sign that the overwrought Karens are winning.

[DWBOX2000]

Just ridiculous. Two kids made a mistake, sh#t happens. Unless he forced the other kid into the canoe, this is just BS. Who’s protected by throwing this kid in jail? Car yeah, canoe please. If they want to play stupid, I’d tell them he threatened my family or something. I was terrified. He had a knife, probably in the bottom of the lake.
Massachusetts has environmental police. Not sure what they do besides looking for revenue.

[911 Rod]

Or we have been duped by the article?

[masraum]

Lots of stuff going on here.

1) On the matter of driving a bicycle when drunk: A bicycle is a vehicle, and is supposed to be driven on the street and follow the same rules as a car. What happens when a drunk guy on a bike decides to bike down to the 7-11 to get another 6pack, and swerves into the road which causes a car to swerve to avoid him, and the car loses control and someone (not the drunk guy) gets killed?

2) boating while drunk: I think we can all agree that driving a motor boat while drunk could have some serious consequences including death, and those folks sholud absolutely be charged with something.

3) canoeing while drunk: hmm, it's not like one person is "driving" the canoe and the other person is along for the ride. In this instance, in my opinion, it's down to "someone got drunk and got themselves killed".

4) what if 2 guys get drunk, and they both agree to a knife throwing competition, or some sort of "lets recreate the William Tell apple story" kind of thing. Or one guy says, "I've got a bullet proof vest, do you want to test it?" In these instances, should we just not worry about it?

I get it, and agree, 2 young drunk kids in a canoe, neither one was driving, they were along for the ride. We don't know, maybe the kid that drowned thought it would be funny to stand up or rock the canoe to scare his buddy. But, assessing blame in a canoe seems a bit much. But the law can't, or maybe shouldn't, pick and choose which laws to prosecute, because when you do that it opens others up to say "you didn't prosecute the guy in the canoe..."

[LEAKYSEALS951]

This is why god created inner-tubes.

[The Synergizer]

Is that the Salt River by Tempe ?

[onewhippedpuppy]

I just don’t see how you can assign blame when it’s a canoe. If it was an actual boat sure, there’s an obvious captain/driver.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I just don’t see how you can assign blame when it’s a canoe. If it was an actual boat sure, there’s an obvious captain/driver.

Right, like I said, the guy that drowned could have thought would be a good idea to stand up or funny if he rocked the boat, and the guy that survived could have been screaming "stop it, stop rocking the boat!" Or it could have been the other way around. I suppose under those circumstances, there might be some blame and requisite punishment.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by masraum

Right, like I said, the guy that drowned could have thought would be a good idea to stand up or funny if he rocked the boat, and the guy that survived could have been screaming "stop it, stop rocking the boat!" Or it could have been the other way around. I suppose under those circumstances, there might be some blame and requisite punishment.

Good luck proving that in court, unless the surviving kid confessed to pushing him in or something.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I just don’t see how you can assign blame when it’s a canoe. If it was an actual boat sure, there’s an obvious captain/driver.

Interesting enough, a canoe has a captain (back paddler) and a stroker (since he can be seen by a person behind, he sets the cadence). That's in strict discipline, like lifeguards and racers.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Interesting enough, a canoe has a captain (back paddler) and a stroker (since he can be seen by a person behind, he sets the cadence). That's in strict discipline, like lifeguards and racers.

Interesting. I thought about joining the crew team when I was in HS, but never did, so I had no idea. It was not anything that I remember being discussed when I was in Boy Scouts.