A trial date has been set for an Ontario man facing 12 charges in connection with a fatal May long weekend boat crash two years ago.
Riley Orr, Juliette Cote and Kaila Bearman died on May 18, 2024, after a speedboat collided with a fishing boat on Bobs Lake, which is just north of Kingston.
The collision occurred just after 9:30 p.m. that day. Orr, Cote and Bearman, who were all between the ages of 21 and 23, died at the scene. Five other people, ranging in age from 21 to 44, were injured and taken to hospital.
Recordings of emergency dispatches posted online shortly after the crash revealed a chaotic scene as paramedics, police, and firefighters raced to the area.
“OPP and ambulance are reporting two boats have crashed. They can hear people screaming for help,” a dispatcher from South Frontenac Fire and Rescue said around 9:45 p.m. May 18.
Around 10:10 p.m., first responders found most of the crash victims wedged together on the boats next to a concrete dock near a few cottages.
Two people were without vital signs, while another was in and out of consciousness, a firefighter told dispatch.
The crash occurred on a narrow channel that connects Bobs Lake and Buck Bay. Area resident Tony Hammond told Global News at the time that he saw a group of young people listening to music on board a boat, which wasn’t far from its dock, when he heard another boat approaching.
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Everything happened so fast that he said he did not have time to react.
“I was just hoping not to hear the crunch, and then I heard the crunch,” he said.
“Before any of the actual first responders [arrived], everyone was doing what they could. There’s no way to describe it, except that anyone who ever hears it knows that sound is go time.”
Five months after the collision, Ontario Provincial Police arrested and charged Matthew Splinter of South Frontenac Township.
He was charged with three counts each of dangerous operation of a conveyance causing death, dangerous operation of a conveyance causing bodily harm, impaired operation causing death and impaired operation causing bodily harm.
Another South Frontenac Township man was also charged under the Canada Shipping Act with failing to exhibit a stern light on a power-driven vessel underway, failing to exhibit sidelights on a power-driven vessel underway and operating a non-human-powered pleasure craft without a personal flotation device or life-jacket of appropriate size for each person on board.
The OPP did not release his identity when it announced the charges.
Det. Insp. Marty McConnell told reporters on Oct. 30, 2024 that investigations like these are “very complex.”
“They require a great deal of resources, and tragically, three lives were lost that day and serious injuries,” he said.
“With the resources involved in this, I wanted to ensure that a fulsome and fair investigation was brought forward to the courts.”
He also thanked the community for their actions that night.
“So many local residents and cottagers ran to assist the victims after the collision and offered support afterwards,” he said.
“I also want to thank those that came forward to share information and assist our investigators.”
Splinter’s trial is scheduled to begin on April 5, 2027.
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