Second lawsuit filed in boat crash

COEUR d’ALENE — The driver of a boat involved in a fatal crash on Lake Coeur d’Alene last year is facing a second lawsuit by one of the three victims’ parents.

Dennis Magner, 51, has been sued in Coeur d’Alene’s 1st District Court by Doug and Terri Honken, the parents of Justin Honken, 21, of Post Falls. Justin Honken was among three people killed when their stationary boat was struck by another watercraft July 30 near Stevens Point.

The suit filed last week is similar to a lawsuit filed in May by Jessica Breeze, the mother of 21-year-old Caitlin Breeze, who also died in the crash.

It alleges Magner was drunk when he drove his boat, a 2011 Mastercraft, into a stationary 1989 Formula occupied by Honken, Breeze, 21, of Spokane, and Justin Luhr, 34, of Medical Lake.

The bodies of Honken, Breeze and Luhr were recovered from Lake Coeur d’Alene several days after the crash.

The five people aboard the Mastercraft, including Magner, Jonathan C. Sweat, 40, of Spokane, Alejanero M. Gutierriz, 33, of Arlington, Wash., Skye Neversorry, 24, of Spokane and Paige L. Archer, 25, of Hayden, suffered minor injuries in the crash.

Sheriff’s reports showed the Formula was floating unpowered around 9:15 p.m. in the northern end of the lake between Stevens Point and Three Mile Point when it was allegedly struck by the Mastercraft, slicing the Formula in half and sinking it.

Following an investigation by the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office that concluded earlier this year, the case was forwarded to the Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office. To date, no criminal charges have been filed against Magner or members of his crew.

According to the latest lawsuit, Magner was piloting his boat “traveling too fast for conditions, distracted and impaired by alcohol and/or illicit drugs.”

Magner rammed the 1989 Formula boat, according to the lawsuit, ejecting Honken into the water, “where he died from trauma, or trauma and drowning combined.”

Magner’s failing to yield to the Formula, or take evasive action to avoid the collision, was grossly negligent and reckless, according to the lawsuit which asks for more than $10,000 in damages.

Passengers on the Mastercraft initially lied to authorities regarding the identity of the boat’s driver. Three of the occupants, however, changed their story several days after the wreck, telling investigators Magner was the driver of the vessel.

They told dispatchers Luhr’s boat was “completely blacked out and not moving.”