A man has been charged with vehicular manslaughter over a nighttime speedboat crash on the Hudson River that killed a bride-to-be and the best man in her wedding party.
The pair were with four others on board the 21-foot Stingray powerboat Friday night when it struck a barge near the Tappan Zee Bridge.
The impact sent Lindsey Stewart and Mark Lennon, both 30, into the water and injured the other passengers, including groom-to-be Brian Bond, officials said.
The engaged couple, who according to CNN had been best friends since childhood, were to be married in two weeks' time at Good Shepherd Church in Pearl River.
The wedding party was headed for Tarrytown, NY. WABC-TV reported that it was Bond, who was knocked unconscious in the accident and suffered a fractured eye socket, who dialed 911 when he regained consciousness.
According to the Associated Press, a Stewart's body was recovered Saturday.
The body of a man believed to be Lennon was found Sunday about a mile away by a jet skier, Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco said, according to CNN. Neither victim was wearing a life jacket.
“I don’t think you can put words to what we have to tell these families,” Falco said on Sunday.
ABC News reported that Jojo John, 35, of Nyack, New York, who was operating the boat when it crashed, had been charged with vehicular manslaughter and vehicular assault late Saturday.
He was arraigned from a hospital bed and ordered held on $250,000 bond, Barbera said.
He is suspected of operating the boat while intoxicated and authorities were still awaiting the result of blood tests.
The other two people on the boat have not been named by the police because they are considered witnesses to a crime, the AP reported.
ABC News cited Piedmont Fire Department Assistant Chief Daniel Goswick as saying that the barges were lit with anchor lights but it was difficult to see them on the water Friday night.
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