Boat’s Driver to Stand Trial in Fatal Accident

A Los Angeles boat maker was ordered by an Arizona judge Thursday to stand trial for allegedly leaving the scene of a boating accident on the Colorado River that claimed the lives of three Orange County residents and left a fourth in a coma.

La Paz County Justice of the Peace John Drum agreed to lower Grier D. Rush’s bond from $1 million to $100,000. Rush, who has been in custody since he surrendered two days after the accident, asked that bail be set at $50,000.

Rush was still in custody late Thursday, a jail attendant said. His attorney, Ron Cordova of Newport Beach, could not be reached.

During Thursday’s preliminary hearing in Parker, Ariz., Drum determined there was enough evidence to bring Rush to trial on the charge of leaving the scene of a fatal boating accident, said La Paz County prosecutor R. Glenn Buckelew. If convicted, Rush could face six months to 2 1/2 years in jail.

Rush, 63, was at the helm of his boat Sept. 19, with two other passengers on board, when it collided with a smaller drag boat driven by Jonathan Herbert, 21, of Laguna Hills. Herbert, his sister Jacquel, and Ashley Rollins, both 18, died of blunt trauma and drowning. A fourth passenger, Josh Rogers, 18, remains hospitalized with serious head injuries.

The accident occurred on a notorious stretch of the Colorado River known as Parker Strip, where there are no speed limits and where there have been at least nine fatalities in the past two summers. Rush and the Orange County residents were staying at the same Red Rock RV resort while attending an annual regatta for V-drive boat owners.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether alcohol was a factor, a question hampered by the fact, prosecutors say, that Rush left the scene on foot, was driven back to his home in California and returned two days later.