Charges weighed in fatal Hampton boating wreck

HAMPTON

The Virginia Marine Police will ask the Hampton commonwealth's attorney to determine whether any charges should be filed in a boating accident that killed a 35-year-old woman Sunday.

The motorboat was being driven by the woman's 7-year-old son when it struck a pier and threw her into the windshield and then off the back of the boat. Elizabeth J. Elliott of Hampton was taken to Riverside Regional Medical Center, where she died.

The five passengers on board were headed home on the Hampton River about 6:15 p.m. when an adult briefly let the 7-year-old steer, said John Bull, a marine police spokesman.

The passengers included the boy, his mother, his grandmother, a neighbor and a family friend, who owned the boat, Bull said.

Police are still investigating, but early indications are that there was implied consent from the mother and grandmother for the boy to steer, Bull said.

Virginia has no age limit restrictions to operate a motorboat, he said.

But it's unclear in this case whether an adult can be charged with misdemeanor improper or reckless boating or involuntary manslaughter, Bull said.

The question for the commonwealth's attorney is whether letting a 7-year-old drive a boat through a narrow channel with piers jutting out violated any laws and justifies charges being filed, he said.

"Without doubt this has been a terrible tragedy," Bull said. "It's still an open-ended question whether laws were broken."