Man charged with involuntary manslaughter in boating accident : News : ConnectMidMissouri.com

Man charged with involuntary manslaughter in boating accident

Posted: 10.06.2011 at 2:30 PM

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Christopher Winkler was charged with involuntary manslaughter and 2nd degree assault after a deadly September boating accident.

Charges were filed against a Jefferson City man in a fatal boating accident that happened in September.

Christopher S. Winkler, 33, of Jefferson was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter with a vessel and three counts of 2nd degree assault.

According to the probable cause statement, Winkler seemed sleepy and sluggish when troopers from the Highway Patrol Water Division went to speak to him. Authorities said his eyes were bloodshot and watery and said it seemed hard for him to keep them open.

The trooper talking to him could smell a strong odor of intoxicants when speaking with him.

Winkler said "I hit them," in his interview with authorities.

When asked how much he had to drink that night, Winkler told authorities he wanted a lawyer, according to the probable cause statement.

Winkler was the driver of a boat that hit two boats that were tied together and anchored just off shore in the Osage River just before midnight on Sept. 3.

Troopers asked the Osage County Prosecutor's Office to charge Winkler with boating under the influence, but the Prosecutor's office didn't file the charge because it was a lesser included offense.

Two people died as a result of the accident. Curtis Libbert and Alvin Blackford were both thrown into the water. The Water Patrol division searched the water for several hours before finding both bodies.

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