The Dangers of Boating While Intoxicated

Around 1:30 a.m. on July 23, 2006, Tiffany Heitkamp was a passenger on a speedboat on a lake in Old Forge, N.Y., that crashed into Alger Island State Campground.  The driver was travelling so fast that it flew over the shoreline and crashed through some trees to finally stop 150' from the water.  State police said after they caught the boat operator Keir Weimer at his family's camp a quarter-mile away, he had a BAL of 0.10%.

Weimer had two drunken driving convictions, but under New York law, they could not be considered in his sentence because they occurred in a car and not a boat.  Even though the driver, then 24, expressed remorse and pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter, he was only sentenced to two to six years in state prison.

Sen. John DeFrancisco (a NYS Republican) has worked since 2006 to close a loophole in the NY DWI law. Under New York law, previous drunk driving convictions were not be considered in his sentence because they occurred in a car and not in a boat. Heitkamp's family and friends began pushing for " Tiffany Heitkamp's Law," which would allow courts to consider any previous drunken driving conviction. His bill passed the Senate and is pending before the Assembly.