CHELMSFORD, Mass. (AP) - A Massachusetts man has pleaded guilty to operating a personal watercraft while drunk and causing a collision that left a 16-year-old girl dead, authorities said.
Douglas Dematos, 34, of Lowell, was sentenced to six years in jail on Monday after pleading guilty to operating a Jet Ski while under the influence of alcohol, causing a death, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a release Thursday.
Dematos was operating the craft on the Merrimack River between Chelmsford and Lowell in August 2017 when he struck the rear of another craft.
Isabelle DaSilva, 16, of Lowell, was a passenger on the second craft being operated by her boyfriend. She was knocked off and her body was recovered in the river the next day.
Officers at the scene said Dematos smelled of alcohol, slurred his speech and his blood was later tested and determined to be well above the legal limit.
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