NEW CITY, N.Y., Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A New York State man got two years Tuesday for a drunken boat collision that killed two of his friends, one of them a woman about to be married.
Jojo John, 36, of Nyack, in a statement before sentencing, said July 26, 2013, was "the saddest day of my life." That was the day Lindsey Stewart of Piermont, N.Y., and Mark Lennon of nearby Pearl River, who was set to be the best man at her wedding, died.
"A day doesn't go by when I don't think of Lindsey and Mark," a tearful John said in a courtroom packed with their relatives. "I miss Lindsey's hugs and her great smile and I miss Mark's infectious laughter."
Stewart's fiance, Brian Bond, was injured in the crash. The couple were to have been married within a month.
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John offered to give his friends a boat ride on the Hudson River after dinner at a restaurant in Piermont. The boat, moving fast, hit a construction barge near the Tappan Zee Bridge.
Family members who spoke during the hearing blamed the owner of the barge as well as John for the crash, saying it was not properly lit. They said the Rockland County District Attorney should have investigated the role that played in the crash.
But a prosecutor said that John had a blood alcohol level of .15, almost twice the legal limit for operating a boat, and tests found signs of cocaine use in his system.
John agreed to a plea bargain in June that allows him to do his time in the Rockland County Jail instead of a state prison.
