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February 06, 2021 - 7:30 AM
The B.C. Coroner's Service has ruled that the death of a 33-year-old Lake Country man, who was thrown from a speedboat on Shuswap Lake during the 2019 Labour Day weekend, was an accident but that drugs and alcohol were involved.
According to the B.C. Coroner's report, Ryan Dieter Hartmann was driving a powerful speedboat side-by-side with another boat at a high rate of speed when he and the passengers on the boat were all thrown into the lake. The boat passengers were rescued but Hartmann was unaccounted for and reported missing.
The accident took place Sept. 1, 2019, and Hartmann's body was recovered nine days later.
The B.C. Coroner's report says Hartmann was driving a "cigarette boat," a 36-foot catamaran-style racing boat, with a 700 to 800 horsepower engine capable of speeds in excess of 150 kilometres an hour.
The coroner's investigation found Hartmann was travelling at a "high rate of speed" parallel with another powerful cigarette boat. The 33-year-old's boat was then drawn to the side and touched the other boat. He then steered a sharp right and the sudden change of direction caused the passengers and Hartmann to be ejected from the boat.
The B.C. Coroner report says Hartmann sustained a blunt force trauma to the chest when he was ejected from the boat. The report says Hartmann died from drowning.
The report says the alcohol discovered in Hartmann is considered a moderate level of intoxication. Information about drugs in his system has been redacted from the report.
The report concludes that Hartmann's death is classed as accidental and that moderate alcohol intoxication and mixed drug ingestion, along with the blunt force trauma to his chest were contributory factors.
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