Friday, August 21, 2015

Man Pleads Guilty To Deadly Lake Eufaula, Oklahoma Boat Crash




 



 Posted: Aug 21, 2015
Brandi Ball, NewsOn6.com


EUFAULA, Oklahoma -

A man has pleaded guilty to being drunk, crashing his speeding boat and killing a man on Lake Eufaula in 2013.

Ryan Shumway, 31, left the scene of the July 4, 2013 crash, even though two little girls had broken legs and their grandfather, Gary McIninch, 55, was missing in the water.



McIninch’s body was recovered two days later, and Shumway turned himself in four days after the fatal crash.

Shumway was sentenced on Friday for felony manslaughter and misdemeanor failure to render aid. He was given six months in the county jail and will serve no less than 85 percent of the time.


According to a civil lawsuit the family filed in 2013, McIninch "placed his body between Ryan Shumway's careening boat and his granddaughters," and the impact knocked him overboard his stationary pontoon boat, which was displaying the required light for darkness.

McIninch’s granddaughters, then ages 8 and 10,suffered “pecuniary damages, physical pain and suffering, disfigurement and extreme mental anguish, according to the family’s lawsuit against Shumway.

Court records show Ryan Shumway has a series of arrests beginning in 2001 for public intoxication and possessing a beer while being under 21.

In 2004, Shumway was convicted of assaulting a law enforcement officer, in 2007, he pleaded guilty to transporting an open container, and in 2010, he was sentenced to a year of probation on a DUI charge.


In another twist in the case, McIninich’s widow asked the medical examiner to return her husband’s wedding band after his death. Months later, after requiring her to obtain a letter from the district attorney to get the ring back, the ME’s office told her they destroyed the ring.

When News On 6 requested records about McIninich’s personal belongings, we were told we would have to obtain a court order to receive the records. Board members refused to return our calls and emails about the issue.

The attorney general and governor said they had no power to wield in the situation.According to McIninich’s widow, the ME’s office finally told her they changed the policies and offered her money, which she refused.





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Boat Driver Sued In Fatal Lake Eufaula Collision 



Posted: Jul 31, 2013
Brandi Ball, NewsOn6.com


PITTSBURG COUNTY, Oklahoma -

The mother of two children who were seriously injured in a July 4 fatal hit-and-run boat crash on Lake Eufaula has sued the driver in civil court, court documents show.

According to the lawsuit filed in Pittsburg County on behalf of Tonia Foster, her children had to be flown by medical helicopter, and their grandfather, Gary McIninch, 55, was tossed from their boat.

His body was recovered from the lake two days later.

Roberts' lawsuit is levied at Shumway and his wife, Janai Shumway, who, along with the couple's children, was on the boat at the time of the crash. It seeks in excess of $75,000 in damages and costs associated with prosecution.

The Shumways showed gross negligence and displayed "wanton and reckless disregard for the rights and the health and welfare of the Foster children," according to the suit.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said 30-year-old Ryan Shumway was identified as the driver of the ski boat that crashed into McIninch. McIninch's pontoon was tied up to another vessel as several people watched a fireworks show near Eufaula Cove.

The lawsuit claims Ryan Shumway's boat was traveling at a high rate of speed when it struck the pontoon, and the pontoon was stopped and displaying the required light for darkness.


McIninch "placed his body between Ryan Shumway's careening boat and his granddaughters," and the impact knocked him overboard, according to the suit.

Troopers said Ryan Shumway circled the pontoon and another boat after the collision. According to witness reports, he drove off when he learned there was a man missing in the water.

"Ryan Shumway and Janai Shumway, after striking the Foster children and knocking Gary McIninch into the waters of Lake Eufaula, then fled the scene without rendering any aid to the small children… or the drowning man they had knocked overboard," the lawsuit says.

Foster's daughters, ages 8 and 10, have suffered pecuniary damages, physical pain and suffering, disfigurement and extreme mental anguish, the lawsuit claims.

Ryan Shumway has not been charged in the incident.

Court records show Ryan Shumway has a series of arrests beginning in 2001 for public intoxication and possessing a beer while being under 21. He pleaded guilty to both of those charges.

In 2004, he was convicted of assaulting a law enforcement officer, in 2007, he pleaded guilty to transporting an open container, and in 2010, he was sentenced to a year of probation on a DUI charge.

He also has a number of speeding violations on his record, both in Pittsburg and Latimer counties.