Middletown Man Indicted on Vehicular Homicide Charge in Fatal Boat Crash

A Monmouth County grand jury handed up an indictment Monday charging a Middletown man with vehicular homicide in a fatal boating accident on July 23, 2011, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office (MCPO) announced in a press release issued Tuesday.

George Harrington, 41, of Browns Dock Road, is charged with one count of second-degree vehicular homicide in connection with the death of Christopher Plante, 50, of Keansburg.

Harrington was allegedly under the influence of alcohol and driving his boat at an unsafe speed when his vessel struck Plante's in the Navesink River, according to the press release. Harrington's boat had four passengers. Plante was driving at a slow speed with his girlfriend as a passenger, authorities said.

Middletown police responded to a 9-1-1 call at 11:30 p.m. that evening reporting the collision and that an individual from one of the boats was missing.

Local police, emergency medical personnel and water rescue teams, along with the United States Coast Guard and New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau were dispatched to the scene. A vessel from the Fair Haven Marine Rescue Unit also responded and located the two vessels, but was unable to find the operator of one of the vessels, the release stated.

The following morning a local paddle boarder discovered Plante's body.

Harrington was issued summonses for operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol, refusal to submit to chemical breath testing, failure to maintain a proper lookout, reckless operation of a vessel and for operating a vessel without a boating safety certificate, according to the release.

After the return of the indictment, Judge Francis J. Vernoia Harrington’s bail at $150,000. Harrington was processed and released after posting bail.