Fine paid in OC boating fatal

A Snow Hill District Court judge agreed for the owner of a vessel involved in a fatal boating accident last summer to pay $320 in citations.

Tyler Barnes, 34, is the owner of Ocean City Watersports LLC, which rented a boat to 17 people in August 2016. Kadin Frederick, 9 of Howell, New Jersey, fell from the bow of the boat and was pulled into the propeller, killing him. Barnes was cited Jan. 10 by the Department of Natural Resources on improper equipment vessel rental, failure to keep records, negligent operation of a vessel and two counts of failure to keep required equipment on a vessel.

READ:  Boat driver charged in 9-year-old's bow riding death

Attorney Michael Farlow appeared in Snow Hill District Court on April 18 to tell Judge Gerald V. Purnell that his client would be paying for four of the citations. The charge of negligent operation of a vessel was dropped at the request of the state.

Barnes did not appear due to the fact these were civil, not criminal citations. Farlow said Barnes would've paid for the citations already, however a recent change in the computer systems used by the courts of the Eastern Shore do not allow for DNR citations to be prepaid, like a traffic ticket.

Farlow offered no comment after the hearing.