A Tidioute man was arraigned Thursday in Kane for allegedly operating a boat in Morrison Bay while intoxicated back in August.
Tyler E. Sutton, 32, of 26 Jefferson St., is charged with endangering the welfare of children and resisting inspection or apprehension, both first-degree misdemeanors; operating a watercraft under the influence of alcohol, a misdemeanor; and nine other offenses under Title 30, relating to laws upheld by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
According to the criminal complaint, at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 8, two Waterways Conservation Officers were in a marked patrol boat on the Allegheny Reservoir near Morrison Campground in Hamilton Township, McKean County.
The officers saw Sutton operating a boat without lights, and towing a child on an intertube, after sunset. An officer told Sutton to stop the boat, but he did not, pointing to the shore and continuing to travel. He was told to stop several more times, but kept responding that he was going to shore. When Sutton finally stopped, the officers told him he was being stopped for not having lights and for pulling a tube after sunset, according to the criminal complaint.
Sutton failed field sobriety tests and was placed under arrest. The children were left with other adults on board the boat, the complaint noted.
Sutton was uncooperative on the way to the marina, yelling at the officers several times. When they reached shore, one officer got out of the boat. While just one officer was on the boat with Sutton, he jumped into the water, and then accused the officer of pushing him into the water, according to the complaint.
The officers got Sutton in the car, stopped at the jail, and then continued on to the hospital for a blood alcohol test, at which point Sutton began demanding to speak to his attorney. The officers began to return to the car to read him his rights again, and Sutton began yelling for help. They got him in the car, read him his rights again and then Sutton again began to argue, at which point the officers began transporting him back to the jail. Sutton began screaming that he hadn’t refused the blood test, but that he wasn’t given a chance to comply. He then accused the officers of losing his shirt, which was draped over his shoulder, the complaint stated.
They continued on to the sheriff’s department, at which point Sutton told them to give up, he was past the two-hour mark for blood testing for intoxication, the complaint noted.
Throughout the incident, Sutton allegedly told the officers he was telling his attorney they left his children alone and they pushed him in the water, and twice told them they had lost his shirt when he in fact had his shirt in his possession, the complaint noted.
Sutton was arraigned before District Judge David Engman and released on $2,500 bail. A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for 1 p.m. Oct. 5.
