BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com / AP) - A Boston man was in court Monday to face a charge of drunken operation of a boat after one of his passengers fell overboard and lost her arm in the propeller.
Benjamin Urbelis, of Charlestown neighborhood, was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court Monday morning and ordered held on $75,000 bail. Police said Urbelis refused to take breathalyzer and field sobriety tests at the scene, but based on officers' observations of his behavior, they charged him with OUI.
Police and the Coast Guard allege that the 33-year-old Urbelis was operating the 29-foot pleasure boat Naut Guilty on Saturday night in Boston Harbor near Spectacle Island when the 19-year-old woman fell overboard. Her arm was severed below the shoulder, and she suffered other injuries.
Rescue personnel took her to Massachusetts General Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
It's not immediately known if Urbelis has an attorney. He himself is a defense attorney, and a co-owner of Julep Bar in Boston.
Officials said 13 people were on the boat at the time. Firefighters searched for the woman's arm in the water but couldn't find it.
The investigation, conducted by state and local police and the Coast Guard, remains ongoing.
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