Man Charged With Drunk Driving After Hitting Couple With Jet Ski

A 27-year-old Placentia man has been charged with felony drunk driving after crashing his Jet Ski into other skiers last weekend.

Dana Point Harbor Patrol officers arrested Daniel Gonzales on Saturday after he ran into a couple riding another Jet Ski at the mouth of Dana Point Harbor near Doheny State Park about 5 p.m. Brenda Kearns, 24, suffered a broken left ankle and a cut on her left foot.

Gonzales had a blood-alcohol level of 0.12 when tested four hours after the accident, police said. The legal limit for boaters in California is 0.10.

Normally, drunk driving on the waterways is a misdemeanor, just as it is in an automobile. But because there were injuries, Gonzales was charged with a felony, Orange County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Bob Rivas said. Bail was set at $10,000, and Gonzales has been released from the Orange County Jail.

Kearns was visiting from Milton, Mass., with her boyfriend, Chris Green, 26, of New York when Gonzales hit them.

“He was going back and forth, on a head-on collision course, so to speak,” Rivas said.

Rivas said drunken jet skiers are rarely caught because identifying them is difficult.

“We get some out there, and we issue citations for drunk driving, but they really are far and few between,” Rivas said. “You very seldom hear about something like this unless someone is hurt.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Conley agreed.

“A lot of times, unless an accident occurs, it isn’t obvious for the officers” that a boater is drunk, Conley said. Unlike the waterways, roads have lanes and posted speed limits that make violations easier to see. “A lot of things that are a clue to the CHP aren’t there for the Harbor Patrol.”

Gonzales faces a maximum of a year in jail and a $5,000 fine if convicted, Conley said.

Alcohol-related boating accidents have drawn attention since 1984 when Virl Earles crashed into an unlit buoy in Anaheim Bay. Five people died in that accident and Earles was convicted on five counts of manslaughter in 1986. He was driving five times faster than the posted 5 m.p.h. speed limit and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.11.