So you want to drink and boat...

A man who died on Lake Sonoma after falling from a ski boat and getting stuck in the propeller was the victim of a drunken boating accident, sheriff's deputies said.

The gruesome Sunday afternoon accident prompted authorities to remind boaters about the dangers of mixing drinking and boating.

Mark Spier, 51, of Orland in Glenn County, was sitting near the propellers as the Master Craft ski boat backed up just before he fell, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department.

"He had some pretty severe trauma to his abdominal area from the propeller," Sheriff's Lt. Greg Contos said.

A sheriff's deputy swam under the boat to free the body from the propeller and Spier was prounounced dead at the scene. An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday.

The accident happened at 3:40 p.m. Sunday in the Warm Springs arm of Lake Sonoma near Jet Ski Cove, Contos said. The lake is the centerpiece of Lake Sonoma Recreation Area in Northern California's wine country.

The boat's operator, Will Dawson, 25, of Petaluma, was booked into Sonoma County Jail on suspicion for felony boating under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury to another person and misdemeanor charges of operating a boat with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent or greater and operating a boat under the influence of alcohol.

Dawson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of drunken driving in 2000, according to Sonoma County Superior Court court records. He was arrested again on suspicion of drunk driving in February of this year, but has pleaded not guilty.

Dawson posted $10,000 bail bond and was released from jail late Sunday night. He is scheduled to appear in court on the boating charges May 24.

The penalties for drunken boating are similar to drunken driving and include jail, fines, license suspension, DUI school and probation.

Another passenger in the boat, Eric Brandon, 26, of Petaluma, was also arrested for being under the influence of alcohol, the sheriff's department said.

Sheriff's Lt. Chris Spallino did not have exact statistics readily available Monday, but he said drunken boating citations at Lake Sonoma are common. However, nothing in the California Harbors of Navigation Code prohibits having open containers of alcohol in vessels.





Enough said?