Hearing set in crash case

SANDPOINT — A preliminary hearing is pending for a Washington state man who struck a tuber on the Pend Oreille River.

William Riley Devine is charged with aggravated boating under the influence resulting in great bodily harm, a felony.

Devine told Bonner County Sheriff’s deputies that he was riding a personal watercraft eastbound near Strong Island and trailing behind his companions who were on a tube being pulled behind a boat. The boat was weaving in the river to give riders on the tube some thrills, court documents indicate.

Devine said he was riding on the wake being generated by the tube when the powerboat suddenly slowed, according to a probable cause affidavit. Devine said was unable to stop and struck the left side of the tube.

One of the tube’s passengers, a 27-year-old woman from Colville, Wash., was seriously injured in the July 3 collision, the affidavit said.

The woman was airlifted to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. She was intensive care and with facial fractures and bleeding in her brain, although doctors told a deputy that she would recover from her injuries.

Devine, a 22-year-old from Pullman, Wash., was arrested after his breath-alcohol content was measured at 0.17, 0.13 and 0.15, levels which exceed the 0.08 limit for operation of a vessel. A public defender has been appointed to represent Devine, court records show.

Devine is free on $2,000 bail while the case is pending. His preliminary hearing is set for July 27.

If convicted, Devine faces up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. His vessel operator privileges could also be dimmed out for up to two years.