Woman indicted after 2018 boating accident
Published 9:05 am Monday, January 28, 2019
Denise Marie Sweeney, 62, of Greensboro was indicted recently in Stanly County on two charges related to a deadly boat accident last year.
She was charged with death by impaired boating, a Class D felony and the first such charge in state history, and involuntary manslaughter, according to the N.C. Wildlife Commission.
Sweeney’s pontoon boat collided with the bass boat of Ronald Murphy Jr., 57, killing him just after midnight Aug. 25, 2018 on Badin Lake. She was cited as boating while impaired, said Darby Enoch, officer with the N.C. Wildlife Commission.
Nine other passengers were on the pontoon boat and several of them suffered minor injuries and a passenger on the bass boat escaped serious injury.
Murphy and his passenger were participating in a fishing tournament at the time of the collision.
Sweeney was released on a $20,000 unsecured bail bond.
The investigation is still ongoing as Sweeney awaits trial.
About Chris Miller
Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.
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