Boat’s Driver Indicted in River Deaths

A Maywood boat builder ordered to stand trial on charges of leaving the scene of a September boating accident on the Colorado River that killed three Orange County young people has been indicted on additional charges of felony negligent homicide.

Grier D. Rush, 62, has been charged with aggravated assault with a dangerous instrument -- his boat -- in the Sept. 19 accident that left a fourth person hospitalized for weeks with serious injuries.

Rush’s attorney, Ron Cordova, could not be reached for comment.

The three counts of negligent homicide were handed up in a Dec. 2 indictment, according to a letter from the La Paz County, Ariz., county attorney to the parents of Jonathan Herbert, 21, and his sister Jacquel, 18.

The Herbert children and their friend Ashley Rollins, 18, died of blunt-force trauma and drowning after the collision along the Parker Strip, a stretch of the river known for its party atmosphere.

Their race boat was broadsided by Rush’s larger “cigarette”-style boat, which struck their bow, then passed over the boat. The lone survivor, Josh Rogers, 18, is steadily recovering but has speech and memory problems.

Test results released last month showed that Jonathan, who was at the wheel, and his sister had no drugs or alcohol in their systems. Rollins had a blood-alcohol level of 0.02, about the equivalent of one beer.

Rush and his two passengers were not injured.

Rush was not tested for alcohol or drugs because he fled the scene and turned himself in two days later, after learning that a warrant had been issued for his arrest, authorities said.

Rush had already been ordered to stand trial on charges of fleeing the scene of a boating accident, a felony. He is now ordered to appear Monday for arraignment, according to the letter.

Mike Sutton, an attorney for the Herbert family, said the indictment helps to show that the victims were blameless.

“The fact that [the victims] were completely unimpaired, and the fact that a grand jury has now made a determination that there is probable cause to charge [Rush] with negligent homicide and aggravated assault, certainly is reflective of what we have felt all along, which is that this accident was 100% the fault of Mr. Rush,” he said.