Recently unsealed search warrants obtained by CBC News indicate that Linda O’Leary, wife of “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, had “alcohol on her breath” after a fatal boat crash this summer in Ontario’s cottage country.
Linda O’Leary was piloting the boat when it collided with another boat, resulting in the deaths of two passengers in the other boat. She was subsequently charged with careless operation of a vessel; the charge carried no jail time and a maximum fine of $10,000
In the documents, Ontario Provincial Police allege that “Mrs. O’Leary was administered an alcohol screening device test and registered an alert. She was subsequently served a three-day driver’s licence suspension. Mrs. O’Leary claims to have consumed a drink of vodka following the collision and prior to the breath test.”
According to the warrants, Linda O’Leary did not recall who gave her the drink.
While the documents do not state the results of the breath test, O’Leary’s lawyer Brian Greenspan insisted that his client was not intoxicated at the time of the crash.
“This tragic accident had nothing to do with alcohol,” Greenspan wrote in an email to CBC News.
“Linda O’Leary was not impaired; she is a highly experienced boater who was proceeding cautiously with due care and attention,” Greenspan continued. “She collided with a totally unlit boat on a moonless night, which was invisible to any prudent operator. No one could have avoided the collision.”
As CBC News points out, Ontario law stipulates that a three-day suspension occurs “if a person’s blood-alcohol concentration is between 0.05 and 0.08 per cent,” while it is a criminal offence to drive with 0.08 per cent or higher.
