Man charged in deadly Boston Harbor boat crash held on $25,000 bail
Lawrence Shieh, the man charged with causing a deadly boat crash in Boston Harbor, had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit in Massachusetts at the time of the crash, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Shieh, 40, pleaded not guilty to several charges, including involuntary manslaughter and operating a boat under the influence at his arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court. He was ordered held on $25,000 bail.
Elizabeth "Lizzie" Dankert, 24, of Andover, Massachusetts, was killed in the crash back on May 13 in East Boston. Two of her friends and Shieh were seriously injured.
Investigators said Shieh was out with friends in the Seaport that night and had about seven drinks in four hours before he ended up alone at the ReelHouse restaurant on New Street where he had three more drinks.
There, he met Dankert and two of her friends and offered to take them out on a boat. Shieh was a member of the Freedom Boat Club, but he didn't own a vessel. The club said he took a boat "without authorization" after the club had closed for the day.
It crashed around 11:20 p.m. into a pier near a Logan Airport runway, throwing the passengers onto the rocks that lined the shore. All four on board were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital.
Prosecutor Ashlee Mastrangelo said Dankert fell, hit her head on the back of the boat and fractured her skull. She died a short time later.
Shieh's blood alcohol content level about an hour after the crash was 0.20, Mastrangelo said, more than twice the legal limit in Massachusetts.
He wasn't charged in the case until Tuesday.
"I think it would be insensitive to say anything other than our hearts go out to the family, the friends and the three woman that were involved in this accident," Shieh's attorney Nick Pisegna told reporters outside court. "We're going to let the process play out until we have any further comment."
Dankert played soccer for Union College in Schenectady, New York, before graduating in 2024. She worked for software company PTC in Boston.
Shieh is due back in court for a pre-trial conference on October 8.
