Attorney: No probable cause to draw blood in fatal boat crash
The attorney for a Bartlett man accused of killing a 10-year-old boy with a boat on the Chain O’ Lakes is claiming Illinois Conservation Police had no probable cause to draw his client’s blood following the July 28 crash.
Defense attorney Jack Donohue of Naperville also claims the conservation police did not follow the correct standards for drawing blood from David Hatyina, 50, and that the formula used to determine if Hatyina was intoxicated when he was behind the wheel of his boat “Purple Haze” is flawed.
That argument will be presented in front of Kane County Judge Clint Hull over three days in April. Hull, who was called in to preside over the case due to the victim’s family relationship to a Lake County judge, will decide whether the blood evidence should be suppressed when the case moves to trial later this year.
Antonio “Tony” Borcia, 10, of Libertyville was killed after he was run over by the 29-foot Baja watercraft driven by Hatyina after the boy had fallen off an inner tube on Petite Lake.
Hatyina was charged by Lake County authorities with five counts of operating a watercraft while under the influence that resulted in death, and four counts of reckless homicide. He remains free on $1 million bond.
Hatyina faces up to 14 years in prison if found guilty of the charges.
Illinois Conservation Police investigators determined through blood samples that Hatyina had taken cocaine before the crash, authorities said. In addition, authorities said blood tests revealed Hatyina had a blood alcohol content of between .09 percent and .128 percent at the time of the accident.
Donohue said he intends to call expert witnesses during the three-day hearing, April 9 through April 11, to refute whether probable cause existed to allow authorities to draw blood from Hatyina.
A civil law suit has also been filed by the Borcia family against Hatyina and Renee Melbourne, a passenger on “Purple Haze” when the crash took place.
The lawsuit seeks $50,000 from each of the boaters for each family member who witnessed the crash, as well as an additional $50,000 for Borcia’s mother, Margaret Borcia.