BOSTON — Prosecutors say the man charged in a boat crash that killed a 24-year-old woman had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit and was allegedly dancing and taking his hands off the wheel before slamming into a pier in Boston Harbor near Logan International Airport.
Lawrence Shieh, 40, of Boston, was indicted Tuesday morning by a Suffolk County grand jury on one count of involuntary manslaughter, one count of operating a boat while intoxicated causing death, two counts of operating a boat while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury, one count of using a boat without authority, and one count of a Logan Airport security violation, District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced during an afternoon news conference.
Shieh is slated to be arraigned Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court after a late-night crash near a Logan Airport runway on May 13 claimed the life of Elizabeth Dankert, of Andover, and injured two of her friends.
“That night, Lawrence Shieh drank a mix of alcoholic beverages at the ReelHouse with friends and several other bars in the Seaport,” Hayden said. “Blood testing after the crash recorded his blood-alcohol at .20, or more than twice the .08 legal limit here in Massachusetts.”
Story continues below Trending Shorts
Shieh struck up a conversation with Dankert and two of her friends, also in their 20s, after his friends left the ReelHouse and convinced them to take a boat ride with them, Hayden said.
Shieh, a member of the Freedom Boat Club, took the vessel from a Seaport dock, even though club rules prohibit boating at night.
“The boat had no exterior lights to aid with illumination,” Hayden said. “In complete ignorance of Freedom Boat Club rules, including accessing the club’s marina with a keycard that he had no authority to use, Shieh and the three women boarded a boat and headed out into the dark harbor.”
According to cellphone videos, Hayden alleged that Shieh was inattentive at the helm, dancing, and taking his hands off the wheel in the seconds before the crash.
Hayden said Shieh crashed nearly head-on into a pier in an area forbidden to boating, throwing everyone onboard onto rocks lining the shore near the runway.
“The boat was traveling at a dangerously excessive speed for the area of 38 miles per hour at the time of the crash,” Hayden said.
First responders were forced to navigate down a slope of slippery, seaweed-covered jetty boulders to reach Shieh and the three women, before rushing them to shore to awaiting ambulances, according to Hayden.
Dankert suffered a “devastating” head injury, causing her death, Hayden said. Her two friends suffered multiple non-life-threatening injuries.
“His reckless actions that night ended one life and dramatically changed three others, including his own,” Hayden said.
Dankert is a former student at Union College, where she played soccer, and a 2020 graduate of Central Catholic High School in Lawrence.
Rachel Souza, a lifelong friend of Dankert, previously said she had “no words” to describe the devastating and unexpected tragedy.
Evidence recovered at the scene, including a cellphone found by divers at the bottom of Boston Harbor a week after the crash, helped investigators bring the case against Shieh, according to Hayden.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2026 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
