A crash involving an impaired driver on a Personal Watercraft (PWC) left four people injured and could have been much worse, a Bracebridge court heard recently.
Appearing earlier this week, Tara Conetta, 30, of Toronto, pleaded guilty to impaired operation of a vessel causing bodily harm.
According to a police report, Bracebridge OPP responded to a call on Three Mile Lake in Muskoka Lakes Township just before 2:30 p.m. on July 17, 2021.
Witnesses reported a PWC with two occupants collided with a family of three on a kayak about 150 meters from the shore. Muskoka Lakes Fire and Muskoka EMS arrived to assist with multiple injured parties that were in the lake.
Police found a distraught female sitting on a dock beside a PWC. The passenger of the PWC was also on scene and bleeding from the head.
Police could smell alcohol on the driver, Conetta, and she confirmed she had been driving, court heard. A breathalyzer test later found 180 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood—more than double the legal limit.
The female passenger of the kayak was knocked unconscious but recovered consciousness before EMS arrived. Two adults and one child were transported to South Muskoka Memorial Hospital and treated for minor injuries, then released.
The 28-year-old female passenger of the personal watercraft was also released from the hospital with minor injuries. All parties involved in the collision were wearing their personal flotation device.
Court heard Conetta had no criminal record. She was sentenced to 12 months under house arrest, six months under curfew, two years of probation, a six-month ban on driving a motor vehicle, and a two-year ban on driving a vessel.
Justice Robert Gattrell said the sentence could easily have been jail time.
“It’s fortunate no one was seriously, permanently injured or killed,” he said.
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Stupidity knows no bounds . Reasonable sentence for a change !