LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has released an update on its investigation into the causes of a single-boat crash late last month that killed a Lakeport man.

Roy Brian Everhart Jr., 58, died as a result of the crash, which occurred on the afternoon of Thursday, May 25, as Lake County News has reported.

Everhart was operating a boat near Way-Aft-Whyle Island, which is north of Rocky Point off of Lakeport, with Christopher O’Bryan from Lucerne his passenger in the boat, according to Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Paulich said that as Everhart was driving the boat, he struck a limb of a tree that was growing in the lake.

According to the original incident report, O’Bryan drove the damaged boat to the Skylark Motel, where he was met by the Sheriff’s Marine Patrol and Lakeport Fire.

The call came in as a man with a head injury. Lakeport Fire Chief Doug Hutchison told Lake County News that firefighters found Everhart down in the boat, where he had fallen after the crash, and declared him dead.

Paulich said the investigation found that Everhart’s blood alcohol level was more than four times the legal limit of 0.08.

“The cause of the accident was determined to be operator error with speed and alcohol being contributing factors,” Paulich said.

The crash was the first fatality reported on Clear Lake this season. Last year’s summer season saw five deaths, all of them from drowning and four involving boating, as Lake County News has reported.
 
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.