in fatal Lake George boat crash
A State Police investigation has concluded that alcohol was a strong contributing factor in a boat crash on Lake George that killed John Michaels, 57, a prominent local home builder and philanthropist, on May 23.
Michaels, an experienced boater, was alone and driving the 21 foot powerboat when it crashed at high speed into the rocky shoreline and a tree just yards from his own dock, said Lt. Richard O Brien of the Wilton barracks.
Michaels died patagonia better sweater vest dark walnutinstantly after being ejected near his Basin Bay waterfront home at Cotton Point on the west spatagonia better sweater railroad blueide of the lake, O Brien said. Troopers used a defibrillator but were unable to revive Michaels,
There were no eyewitnesses and no indication of foul play, O Brien said.
As a result, the toxicology report did not attempt to determine Michaels blood alcohol content or to pinpoint the precise level of his impairment, O Brien said.
A State Police investigation also ruled out mechanical failure of the recently purchased Steiger Craft center console sport fishing boat, O Brien said, and a patagonia mars guide pantsmedical autopsy ruled out any emergency medical condition that could have caused the crash.
The investigation also looked at weather, as well as his repatagonia outlet store reno nevadalative unfamiliarity with the new boat, and determined that none of those factors caused the crash, O Brien said.
It appears for an unknown reason that Mr. Michaels did not reduce his speed upon reaching his destination and therefore ran aground, O Brien said. We have indicated that alcohol is a strong contributing factor in this accident.
The report stopped short of saying Michaels was drunk and it did not explicitly state that excessive alcohol was the cause, O Brien said. The State Police investigation is now closed.
The Michaels family had not yet received a report of the investigation and did not plan to comment on it, said Mark Behan, president of a public relations business and spokesman for the Michaels family.
This was a man who devoted his life to philanthropic causes and his business. His family and the patagonia discount code aviscommunity have suffered a terrible loss, Behan said.
I think of John all the time, I think patagonia discount code avis2of all the good he did and it s just a shame that he s gone, said Jonathan Lapper, a longtime friend of Michaels and a Glens Falls attorney who represented Michaels home building company. Hpatagonia employee benefits onlinee said he had been with Michaels on his boat many times and described him as a careful and capable operator.
After dinner, because it was raining, his wife got a ride home in their friends car and Michaels drove the boat back home patagonia discount code avis0solo along a route he had traveled many times, the friends said.
The crash occurred within earshot of Michaels lakeside home, where family members had gathered for the start of a long Memorial Day weekend. Wpatagonia guide jacket backpackitnesses said the boat s motor continued to run at full throttpatagonia discount code avis3le after the crash and its propeller churned a large, deep hole in the lake bottom before a neighbor managed to climb aboard the craft and shpatagonia guide jacket 2 jacketut off the engine.
Michaels was a co owner with his brother, David Michaels, of The Michaels Group, based in Malta, one of the largest home builders in the Capital Region. It was started by their late father, James Micpatagonia discount code avis1haels, and his sons joined the buspatagonia guide pants 40iness in the early 1980s. They have built more thapatagonia hiking boots cheapn 10,000 homes and more than 50 developments. The company is now run by Michaels brother and Michaels son, Luke.
