By Tim Petruk
Kamloops This Week
An avid Shuswap Lake boater has told a judge he “veered off” to avoid a speedboat being driven erratically moments before a fatal 2010 crash that killed the driver of a nearby dimly lit houseboat.
Leon Reinbrecht is charged with one count each of criminal negligence causing death and criminal negligence causing bodily harm. His trial in B.C. Supreme Court resumed on Monday, March 30, after a two-week break.
The charges stem from the crash that killed houseboat owner Ken Brown.
Scott MacDonald testified he was on a boat with nine family members on July 3, 2010, following a fireworks display in Magna Bay, heading back to his father-in-law’s property on the Shuswap’s north shore.
“We started heading up lake toward Fraser Bay, just taking our time,” MacDonald said. “We were just cruising very slowly. It was hard to see. It was a really, really dark night.”
Before he spotted the speedboat being driven erratically, MacDonald said, he noticed strange lights on the lake — lights that turned out to be a blue LED rope light on a houseboat, court heard.
“Before we got to the houseboat, we see an odd blue light about 10 or 15 feet up above the water,” MacDonald said.
“It wasn’t until we got right beside the boat that my father-in-law said, ‘Oh, that’s a houseboat.’
“I was kind of shocked that I came up on him and I didn’t see him. There was no light evident on the houseboat and that kind of concerned me. So, I just focused on moving forward.”
MacDonald said he passed the houseboat and then noticed the lights of another vessel in the water.
“We saw the lights from a boat doing donuts and zig-zagging — driving erratically,” he said. “I remember commenting that he was pretty close to shore to be doing that because there’s always boats tied up.”
MacDonald said he took an extra wide path around the boat out of an abundance of caution.
“I was concerned we’d get crashed in to, so I just veered off,” he said.
Reinbrecht’s trial is expected to run into mid-April.