Manslaughter, evidence tampering, fleeing police: The charges against the Herrington Lake wake boat driver

Cody Casey was arrested Tuesday on nine charges, according to jail records- the same week the family he allegedly struck filed a civil lawsuit accusing him of fleeing the scene without stopping to help.

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More than six weeks after a wake boat plowed into a family's pontoon boat on Herrington Lake, killing 25-year-old Nazar Svintozelskiy and critically injuring his father, the boat's operator is now facing criminal charges- and a civil lawsuit from the family.

According to Boyle County Detention Center inmate records, 34-year-old Cody Casey was arrested Tuesday and booked on nine charges:

• Manslaughter, 2nd degree
• Wanton endangerment, 1st degree
• Assault, 1st degree
• Assault, 4th degree, minor injury
• Failure to render aid
• Leaving the scene of an accident / failure to render aid or assistance where death or serious physical injury occurred
• Tampering with physical evidence
• Fleeing or evading police, 3rd degree
• Failure to report an accident involving damage in excess of $500

The arresting agency is listed as Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. I've reached out to the agency for more information on the charges and the circumstances of the arrest and will update as soon as I hear back.

This is the first confirmation of criminal charges since the crash on July 4- and it comes with allegations, at least via the tampering and fleeing charges, that go well beyond what's been publicly described up to this point.

According to Boyle County Detention Center records, Casey is no longer in custody.

How we got here

The crash happened over the July 4 holiday weekend. According to Kentucky Fish and Wildlife's initial press release, a wake boat operated by Casey collided with a pontoon boat operated by 58-year-old Alex Svintozelskiy on Herrington Lake in Mercer County. Nazar Svintozelskiy, a passenger on the pontoon, was ejected into the water and drowned; his body was recovered two days later.

I spoke with the family's attorney, Justin Peterson, shortly after the crash. He described a family of 10 on the water that day- Alex and his wife Tonya; their adult children Nazar, Enessa and Lina; Lina's husband Andrew; and four grandchildren ranging from two months to eight years old. Two of the grandchildren were out on a tube nearby and were not struck.

Peterson said witnesses described Casey driving at a high rate of speed and performing "donuts" before striking the idle pontoon boat head-on. Alex was life-flighted to UK Hospital and underwent emergency brain surgery after suffering a severe brainstem injury; Tonya suffered a shattered arm.

At the time, Peterson said the family wasn't seeking vengeance- they wanted answers first, then accountability- and that they were holding off on filing a civil suit while the criminal investigation played out. KDFW, for its part, said in a follow-up statement that the investigation was active but that it wouldn't release specific details that could jeopardize the outcome.

The investigation into a death on Herrington Lake

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife game wardens are investigating a boating incident on Herrington Lake that killed one man and left his father hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury.

Shay InformedShay McAlister

The new lawsuit

That changed this week. On August 17, the family's attorney filed a civil complaint against Casey in Mercer Circuit Court.

The complaint lays out new detail about what allegedly happened on the water. It states Casey was operating a 2017 Axis watercraft with an outboard Monsoon engine, and that in the moments before the crash he was "driving at an excessive rate of speed, performing repeated 'donuts' and other erratic maneuvers in close proximity to other boaters on a crowded Herrington Lake during a busy holiday weekend."

The suit alleges Casey accelerated toward the stationary pontoon boat even as several passengers waved and screamed to get his attention, and that his watercraft struck the pontoon "head-on, causing catastrophic damage" and throwing occupants into the water.

Perhaps most notably, the complaint alleges that Casey didn't stop. "Rather than stopping to determine whether anyone had been injured or to provide assistance as required by Kentucky law, Defendant Casey fled the scene of the collision without rendering aid or providing the required identifying information," the complaint states.

The lawsuit brings four counts: negligence, gross negligence, failure to render aid- citing a Kentucky statute that requires boat operators involved in a collision to stop, help the injured, and exchange identifying information- and a claim for punitive damages. It seeks damages for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and attorneys' fees, and it demands a jury trial.

Casey was served through the Mercer County Sheriff's office and has 20 days from being served to respond before the court could enter a default judgment against him.

What's next

With criminal charges now filed, Peterson's earlier framework- hold the civil case while the criminal case develops, since a pending prosecution can complicate what's discoverable in a civil suit- appears to be shifting, since the family filed anyway this week. It's not yet clear how the criminal case and civil case will interact from here, or whether Casey has retained an attorney in either matter.

I'll have more as I hear back from Kentucky Fish and Wildlife on the charges and the arrest itself.

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