Drunk driver on jet ski crashes into another, killing woman on WA river, cops say
CORRECTION: The blood-alcohol level reported in an earlier version of this story was incorrect. The correct level is 0.091.
The corrected story is below:
A man is accused of driving drunk on a jet ski that collided with another and left a woman dead, Washington authorities said.
Stephen A. Lubeck, 29, was driving a jet ski south on the Columbia River when he collided with the woman, 39, who was driving a jet ski westbound on Sunday, Oct. 9, the Vancouver Police Department said in a news alert.
Police, along with the “Vancouver Fire Department, Clark County Sheriff’s Office and Coast Guard marine units,” responded to a call about a boating collision at the “west waterfront area, near the Grant Street Pier,” at about 7:30 p.m., police said.
The woman “did not survive her injuries,” police said.
Lubeck and the woman did not know one another, according to police.
In a breath test taken that evening, Lubeck had a 0.091 blood-alcohol level, court records show, The Columbian reported. “The legal limit for operating under the influence of alcohol on our waterways is .08,” according to the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission.
Lubeck told police he’d started drinking at about noon and “had three or four Coors Light beers about an hour before riding the jet ski,” the probable cause affidavit shows, The Columbian reported.
Lubeck was arrested and faces charges of vehicular homicide and operating a vessel while under the influence, police said.
Vancouver is about 135 miles southwest of Tacoma.
This story was originally published October 10, 2022 at 6:28 PM with the headline "Drunk driver on jet ski crashes into another, killing woman on WA river, cops say."
