A no-wake zone on the Fox River became the scene of a gruesome fatal crash when prosecutors say Richard Stevenson blasted through it at about 80 mph and drove over another boat.
Stevenson, 45, was ordered held without release Monday after the Saturday afternoon wreck near McHenry, Illinois. Court records cited by ABC News show he faces charges including aggravated DUI and reckless homicide.
Judge Cynthia Lamb found that Stevenson’s release before trial would pose a “real and present threat” to the community’s safety, according to the network.
Prosecutors said Stevenson kept driving after a passenger allegedly warned him.
“The defendant, while intoxicated, drove his vessel at about 80 mph in a no-wake zone. Even when warned by a passenger, the defendant continued to operate in that manner. The vessel went over the top of another vessel and crashed,” according to Lamb’s written detention order cited by ABC News.
“When the defendant’s boat was on top of the victim’s boat, it decapitated one of the passengers of that boat,” the order continued.
Monday’s criminal complaint included a witness account that put Stevenson’s boat in the no-wake area at “full throttle.”
🎓Learn how Marxist ideas shaped modern culture and how to challenge them with Hillsdale College’s free course! 🎓 Explore the history and impact of Marxism in America ➡️➡️➡️ TAKE THE FREE COURSE NOW!!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
“It collided with vessel 2, resulting in the decapitation of a female passenger on the second watercraft.”
Court documents place Stevenson’s boat over one vessel before the crash ended against timber on the west bank of the river. Stevenson stayed at the scene and was soon taken to a hospital, ABC News reported from court records.
A medical blood draw later showed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.2. Illinois’ legal limit is 0.08.
After the wreck, Stevenson allegedly admitted to a witness that he was operating the vessel and had been drinking.
Court records cited by ABC News show a prior driving history that includes two DUI convictions, three reckless-driving charges and four misdemeanor speeding charges, the latest in 2023. Stevenson is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 5.
Idaho investigators found Instagram, Amazon and text activity on Austin Summers’ phone in the minutes before the crash that killed his 7-year-old son.
Austin Summers, 31, is charged with vehicular manslaughter and two counts of injury to a child in the Nov. 25 Interstate 84 crash that killed Graham, his 7-year-old son, and injured his two younger boys.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by the Idaho Statesman placed Summers’ GMC pickup at 73 to 75 mph in a 65 mph zone before it slammed into a Ford F-450 that was crawling at 7 mph with its hazard lights on because of a mechanical problem.
Police found Graham dead in the passenger seat and said he had not been buckled in. The Canyon County coroner’s report determined that the boy died of multiple blunt force injuries.
Summers was injured and trapped in the driver’s seat. His two younger sons, ages 3 and 5, were hurt in the backseat. All three survived after being taken to a local hospital.
Idaho State Police later learned that Summers had allegedly been using his phone extensively before and during the crash.
Corporal Jeff McConnell spoke with Summers at the hospital on Nov. 26, and Summers claimed he had no memory of what happened.
A phone warrant later gave investigators a timeline from 2:45 p.m. to the 3:02 p.m. collision, including more than a dozen sent and received messages, Instagram scrolling, Amazon use and opened photos.
Investigators also found a photo and video of a separate interstate crash, plus an Instagram Story draft with a cut-off warning. “Avoid th [sic] freeway heading…”
At 3:01 p.m., the phone showed an opened photo. At 3:02 p.m., the time of the crash, a text message was read, according to the affidavit cited by KIVI-TV.
The activity continued after impact, with an Instagram message accessed at 3:03 p.m. and an outgoing 911 call placed at 3:04 p.m.
Lab results later showed cocaine and opiates in Summers’ blood, according to the Idaho Statesman. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare opened a child protective investigation.
Summers is being held at Ada County Jail on $500,000 bond and has an Aug. 6 hearing scheduled to try to get the amount reduced.
In Connecticut, Bridgeport Police Officer Cooper Whiteside and his girlfriend, Brittany Anne Islami, were killed in another alleged DUI crash.
Melissa Ramirez, 27, faces two counts of second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle after the deaths of Officer Cooper Whiteside, 38, and Brittany Anne Islami, 34.
The July 13 crash happened around 2:45 a.m. on Sugar Hollow Road in Danbury, where police say Ramirez’s Jeep struck Whiteside’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Both Whiteside and Islami were pronounced dead at the crash site, WTNH reported.
Police told News 12 Long Island the Jeep had heavy front-end damage. First responders removed Ramirez from the damaged vehicle before she was transported to a hospital with serious injuries.
A witness driving ahead of the motorcycle told police he did not see the exact moment of impact, but believed a northbound vehicle may have crossed the double yellow line, CTPost reported.
The witness added that the motorcycle had not been traveling erratically or swerving.
Ramirez was taken into custody on additional charges of operating under the influence of drugs or alcohol, speeding and failing to maintain the proper lane, according to the Danbury Police Department.
She remains jailed on a $500,000 bond.
