A Long Beach boat owner whose vessel crashed into a jetty at a high speed over the summer, killing one man on board and injuring seven others, was charged with vehicular manslaughter Wednesday, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office announced.
Kevin King, 57, was under the influence of alcohol when he crashed his boat — the 48-foot-long “Four Kings” — into the jetty, prosecutors alleged Wednesday. The crash killed John Correa, a former UC Berkeley baseball player who worked in real estate.
King pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. He faces up to 13 years in prison.
Passengers on the boat described to The Times the July 3 crash and the events that led up to it, including how people on board had been eating and drinking alcohol during what was supposed to be a casual, pleasure boat ride. While some believed that King had been drinking, no one told The Times that King appeared seriously inebriated.
“People said they saw Kevin drink. It was mellow. I can tell you that. Not like a crazy situation,” said Barry Vince, one of the passengers, at the time of the crash. Vince does not drink.
Vince said he’d let King drive the boat while drinking in the past.
But Vince felt differently Thursday after the charges were announced.
“I was naive to the dangers of drunk boating and it’s just stupid of me. I would never let a drinker drive me around in a car. I never thought about that with a boat for some reason. I had confidence in Kevin,” he said.
Prosecutors compared the situation to any other vehicle.
“Anyone who chooses to operate a vehicle intoxicated — whether a car, motorcycle, or boat — puts lives at risk, and they will be held accountable,” said Dist. Atty Nathan Hochman.
King is an experienced boater and knows his boat like “the back of his hand,” said Vince.
“He’s been out on that ocean, on that jetty thousands of times,” Vince said. “I had full confidence in him.”
The boat had a dozen people on it on July 3 and was coming back toward the dock in Alamitos Bay when it crashed, passengers told The Times. Some said they believed the boat was going about 30 or 40 miles per hour when it made impact.
Six of the passengers were on the upper level, where the boat’s controls were, while another six were in an interior room below.
“It was just a horrific, massive impact. The sound was just something I’ve never really heard before,” said one member of the group, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive event.
All six people on the top deck were knocked unconscious by the impact, and Correa was killed. King was one of the people on the top deck, passengers told The Times.
“John never woke up,” Vince said. “I saw John. I checked his pulse. He was passed away.”
This story originally appeared on LA Times
