No charges in fatal Lake Murray boat crash

No charges will be filed in last month’s fatal boat crash on Lake Murray, the investigating agency announced Thursday.

The S.C. Department of Natural Resources said Bruce Dyer, 56, of Irmo, will not face charges in the April 21 crash that killed Danny Phillips and Shawn Lanier. Dyer was driving the powerboat that fatally collided with Phillips’ bass boat, in which Lanier was a passenger. A third person on the bass boat and two people on Dyer’s boat were injured.

Dyer is president of Dick Dyer Toyota, and the Dyer names appears on several Columbia-area auto dealerships.

Investigators determined Phillips was at fault in the crash, which happened about 11 p.m. April 21 north of Dreher Island.

“The bass boat had the responsibility of giving way to the center-console boat,” officials said Thursday. “In an attempt to avoid collision, Dyer made a sharp turn, ejecting his wife and another passenger overboard. Despite the evasive attempt, both boats collided.”

The 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office reviewed all files before agreeing with the decision not to file charges.

“The investigation has determined Dyer’s speed was not excessive, nor was there any erratic operation of his vessel,” DNR said on why reckless homicide or operation charges would not be appropriate.

Toxicology testing showed Phillips had cannabis and alcohol in his system, Capt. Robert McCullough, a DNR spokesman, said Thursday.

But the amount of alcohol in Phillips’ blood would not have risen to the level of a boating-under-the-influence charge, McCullough said.

McCullough said Dyer admitted to having “a few beers over the course of five or six hours.” Shortly after the crash, an officer administered the nystagmus eye test, which checks for jerking movements in the eye that are indicative of impairment, McCullough said. Dyer passed the test, which McCullough said is the most accurate in the battery of sobriety tests.

The remaining tests were conducted on the dock about two hours after the crash, McCullough said.

“There were two dead people in the water, and you’ve got a scene out there,” McCullough said of the delay in administering the rest of the tests. “You’ve got to get everybody secure. We don’t have 30 people – we only had three officers out there.”

Lexington County Sheriff’s Department deputies assisted DNR that night, the department has said.

Because Dyer passed the tests and showed no signs of intoxication, McCollough said, there was not probable cause to ask for breath or blood tests.

Dyer willingly turned his GPS device over to DNR, which used the device to calculate the speed and navigation track of Dyer’s boat before and during the collision, officials said.

The operator of a boat involved in a crash is required by law to help anyone affected by the collision “if he can do so without serious danger to his own vessel, crew or passengers,” the state states. DNR officials said Thursday that Dyer recovered his passengers from the water, secured his boat, called 911 and directed his spotlight toward the bass boat.

The lone survivor on the bass boat, Ashley “Ash” Wannamaker, has sued Dyer. Wannamaker contends that Dyer was grossly negligent by driving too fast, driving under the influence and failing to yield the right of way.

In a separate May 2010 boat crash on the lake, Steven Kranendonk also passed field sobriety tests, according to testimony in his 2012 trial. But five hours after the crash that killed two women, a blood test found Kranendonk with an alcohol reading of 0.11. That’s higher than the state’s 0.08 level to be legally impaired.

Kranendonk was convicted of reckless homicide and sentenced to 10 years. He was released in January because of his good behavior, probation officials said.

This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 3:44 PM with the headline "No charges in fatal Lake Murray boat crash."