Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have arrested and charged a suspect in the fatal boat collision on Bobs Lake that killed three people and injured three others.
Matthew Splinter, a 44-year-old resident of South Frontenac Township, was arrested and charged on Oct. 29 with three counts of dangerous operation of a conveyance causing death, three counts of dangerous operation of a conveyance causing bodily harm, three counts of impaired operation causing death, and three counts of impaired operation causing bodily harm.
OPP released the name of the accused during a media event on Wednesday morning, five months after the accident.
“Death investigations are very complex,” lead investigator, Det. Insp. Marty McConnell, told media Wednesday morning outside the Frontenac County OPP detachment in South Frontenac. “They require a great deal of resources. And you can imagine, tragically, three lives were lost that day and serious injuries, and with the resources involved in this, I wanted to ensure that a fulsome and fair investigation was brought forward to the courts.”
Three young adults died and five other people were taken to hospital on the Victoria Day Long Weekend after a speedboat ended up on top of a fishing boat on Bobs Lake north of Kingston, Ont., shortly after 9:30 p.m. on May 18.
One boat involved in the collision was described as an open bow fishing-style boat and the other as a speed boat. Police have not yet said whether alcohol or speed were factors in the collision or whether the occupants of the watercrafts were wearing life preservers.
Recordings of emergency dispatches posted online reveal a chaotic scene that Saturday night in May as paramedics, police and firefighters raced to the area. Members of the Frontenac detachment of the OPP, the OPP emergency response team, canine unit, other OPP units, South Frontenac Fire and Rescue, Central Frontenac Fire and Rescue and Frontenac Paramedics all responded.
Three people, all in their early 20s, were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The victims were Riley Orr, Juliette Cote and Kaila Bearman.
Family members of the victims were in attendance at the detachment on Wednesday, but did not want to speak with the media.
The investigation has been ongoing under the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch alongside the Office of the Chief Coroner, utilizing multiple members of OPP crime units, collision reconstructionists, the Technical Collision Investigation Team, and Forensic Identification Services.
“In the OPP we have a number of resources that we do use, including our marine units, our reconstructionists, our technical collision investigators, and all of those did attend,” McConnell said. “We used all the necessary resources to conduct a thorough investigation.”
Bobs Lake resident Bob Leonard said that people have complained about speed on the lake, which he said is “more or less a fishing lake,” but that it seems to be a legal “grey area.”
“Hopefully (there will be) new regulations,” Leonard said, pointing out that boats seem to be getting faster.
He said that he and other locals have been anticipating the charges, and he said the OPP have been diligent in their work.
“I think they investigated or interviewed pretty well most of the people within about five miles of the scene,” he said. “They were very, very thorough. So hopefully they get things together.”
“Everyone that came forward does play a role in this and those statements are important, but all pieces are important in this investigation,” McConnell said during his comments.
McConnell wouldn’t speak to specifics of the investigation, as they are now before the courts. He did say that in the face of the severity of the tragedy, he felt that “it met the criteria of a criminal code offence to be laid in this case.”
Following the collision in May, the OPP declined to discuss specific factors being investigated, but the police did say that general factors that are considered include: speed, alcohol or drug impairment, safety equipment used or not used, weather, operator requirements for boats, time of day, darkness, underwater hazards, navigation tools or markers and operator ability.
There is no prescribed speed limit on open water. A speed limit could be posted in canals or more narrow waterways. A regulation under the Canada Shipping Act of 2001 dictates that vessels that are within 30 metres (100 feet) of any shoreline are to cause minimal wake on shore.
Splinter remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in bail court on Oct. 30.
Police are still seeking any information that people may have about the collision on May 18. Anyone who has information and has not yet spoken with investigators should contact the Frontenac OPP Detachment at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or ontariocrimestoppers.ca.