Long Island

ny-seaford boat crash-sg

The boat crash that killed three people off <a href="/topics/Seaford%2C_NY">Seaford</a> earlier this month has spurred a review by the U.S. Coast Guard of how it keeps track of navigational buoys. 
The review comes as the agency has learned that it overlooked several notifications that two navigation aids near the crash site had been removed by the Town of <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> in the 1980s. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-seaford-1.1500180">PHOTOS: Three die in boat crash</a> 
Earlier this month, the attorney for the estate of the boat operator killed in the Oct. 4 crash - George Canni - blamed the accident on a missing buoy and "day beacon," a pole-mounted reflector sign. Authorities had determined that Canni was legally drunk and operating his 40-foot Hustler speedboat at high speed in the dark. 
When it checked its records, <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> determined the two markers had been removed from the channel even though they appear on current navigation charts. 
Despite the absence of the navigation aids for more than two decades, James Mercante, attorney for the Canni estate, said "the buoys are still identified on navigation charts and <a href="/topics/Global_Positioning_Systems">GPS</a> computer charts that the mariner is relying on for nighttime navigation." 
Christopher T. McGrath, attorney for Peter Sofia of <a href="/topics/Massapequa%2C_NY">Massapequa</a>, who was injured in the accident, said the markers were not an issue: "Alcohol plus speed is no defense when you're in a boat or a car." 
The Coast Guard first noted the missing markers in its Local Notice to Mariners after checking all channel markers following the crash that killed Canni, 65, of <a href="/topics/Copiague%2C_NY">Copiague</a>, his wife and a friend, and seriously injured four others. 
The Coast Guard doesn't know why the town's information failed to reach the proper agency officials, said Coast Guard Cmdr. Kevin O'Ditt, who oversees the aids-to-navigation teams for Sector <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> Sound, which covers <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> waters. "We're reviewing that process," he said. 
<a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> waterways Commissioner Ron Masters said that 1984 is the last time the town can confirm that the markers were in place. Masters said the town mails or hand-delivers an updated list of navigation aids and their locations to the Coast Guard "when there are significant changes." The markers appear on the 1984 list but not on lists prepared in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2008. 
He said in late December last year or early this January, the latest list was hand-delivered to the Jones Beach station, but town employees never followed up to ensure the Coast Guard had recorded the changes. 
O'Ditt confirmed the document had been received at Jones Beach but added "this list did not include any request for action by the Coast Guard." 
The preferred and official methods of alerting the agency to changes in navigation aids is to fill out a special form and mail it to the Coast Guard First District in <a href="/topics/Boston">Boston</a> or fill out a notification on a Web site used by harbormasters, O'Ditt said. 
Lt. Erik Halvorson, spokesman for the First District, which includes Sector <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> Sound, said that after the sector reviews its procedures, the agency will determine "if there are lessons that can be applied" throughout the Northeast or beyond. He said the Coast Guard in 2005 began an ongoing effort with help from volunteers to check the placement of the 4,506 navigation aids in the First District not maintained by his agency. 
Masters said no one working currently for the town knows why the markers were removed. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-seaford-1.1500180">PHOTOS: Three die in boat crash</a>

Nassau

LIBOAT30

LI boat crash sparks Coast Guard navigation aid review

Theresa Maniaci-Canni and George Canni

Two navigation markers were missing on the channel where a high-performance speedboat crashed south of <a href="/topics/Seaford%2C_NY">Seaford</a> earlier this month, killing three and injuring four. 
But why boaters in the area were not officially informed is not yet clear. 
While the Town of <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> was responsible for placing and maintaining those markers, the U.S Coast Guard was supposed to notify the boating community of changes. 
 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/three-confirmed-dead-in-boat-crash-near-wantagh-parkway-1.1500293">&gt;&gt;VIDEO: Click here to see victims escorted to ambulances on the night of the accident.</a> 
 
According to a Coast Guard report prepared after the Oct. 4 crash, two "day beacons" - reflector signs mounted on poles - designed to guide mariners through the Great Island Channel were not where they were supposed to be on the day of the crash. 
Ron Masters, the town's waterways commissioner, said his department removed the markers last winter and informed the Coast Guard in a memo hand-delivered to the Jones Beach Station in January. He could not provide the memo Thursday night. 
If the Coast Guard was notified, it would be up to the agency to issue an alert through its weekly online Local Notice to Mariners publication. But the agency's notice that the markers had been removed appeared on Oct. 14. 
A Coast Guard spokeswoman said she could not clarify the situation Thursday night. 
Earlier this week, police said boat owner George Canni, 65, of <a href="/topics/Copiague%2C_NY">Copiague</a>, was legally drunk at the time of the accident, with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent. 
But attorney James Mercante of <a href="/topics/Manhattan">Manhattan</a>, representing the estate of Canni and his wife, who were both fatally injured, contends the missing navigation aids caused the 7:15 p.m. accident. 
"The next set of red and green buoys [markers] that he would be looking for were missing, yet they were identified on the nautical chart as being in position," said Mercante, who obtained the Coast Guard report on the status of navigation aids. "To someone operating a vessel in a narrow, confined channel at night who would be relying on buoys, not having the buoys there that should have been there would have caused the operator to stray from the channel without knowing it." 
Although the two markers were gone, a third one remains on the west side of the channel, and it is closer to where the accident happened - and closer to the turn Canni needed to make to avoid hitting Goose Island. 
Larry Weiss, spokesman for U.S. Power Squadrons on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>, a boating safety group, downplayed the importance of the buoys. "A prudent skipper, upon not seeing expected navigation aids, should slow to an appropriate speed, or even stop, until the correct position and course can be ascertained," he said. With Eden Laikin

LIBOAT23

Two beacons were missing near fatal boat crash

boat wreckage

<a href="/topics/New_York%2C_NY">NEW YORK</a> (AP) — Buoys to aid navigation in a twisting channel where a speedboat ran aground were either missing, damaged or out of position the night of the crash that killed three people and critically injured four, an attorney for the boat's captain said Thursday.
The attorney, James Mercante, disputed police allegations that either alcohol or speed played roles in the accident that killed pilot George Canni, 65, his wife and a friend.
"Without the buoys to navigate at night, you have no way of determining if you are in the channel or out of the channel," said Mercante, an attorney for Canni's insurance company.
He added that Canni was an experienced mariner who had owned or operated boats for more than 20 years and that his blood-alcohol level was at the minimum threshold for boating while intoxicated.
Police have said that Canni was legally drunk and driving at "excessive speed" when he crashed the boat Oct. 4.
But Mercante said data he obtained from the U.S. Coast Guard indicated that two buoys were off station, two others were missing and a third was damaged the night Canni's 40-foot speedboat, carrying his wife and a group of friends, traversed the Great Island channel and ran aground on Goose Island, south of <a href="/topics/Massapequa%2C_NY">Massapequa</a>.
"At night when you're operating on a boat, you rely almost exclusively on buoys to guide the mariner," said Mercante, a longtime maritime attorney and retired naval reserve captain. "When the buoys are missing or off station it becomes a perilous trap for the mariner."
Ron Masters, commissioner of Conservation and Waterways for the Town of <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a>, which maintains about 300 buoys in the area, said none of the buoys were off-station.
"The day after the accident, my team went out there on my instructions, and they reported back to me that they were on-station," he said.
The buoys are owned by the Town of Hempstead. A spokesman for the town did not immediately return a phone message Thursday requesting comment.
Mercante also disputed police allegations that Canni's boat was going too fast.
"There's no speed limit in that area," he said. "Whatever speed he was doing, he was in his rights to be doing it."
He said it was unlikely that the boat could go more than 40 mph.
The <a href="/topics/Nassau_County_Police">Nassau County Police</a> Department, which is investigating the boat accident, said that it would make no comment beyond repeating its announcement on Wednesday that Canni had a blood-alcohol level content of 0.08.
The department has also requested toxicology tests to determine whether Canni had drugs or other substances in him at the time of the accident.
Capt. Alan Bregman, who mans a marine-assistance boat off <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>'s South Shore in the area where the accident happened, said it's possible that at least one buoy is in the wrong spot and two others are missing in the channel.
He said the buoys were small and unlit, designed to be taken out easily each year. If they had been missing from the channel on Oct. 4, he said "it would definitely make things more difficult" for boaters. But he emphasized that "driving drunk is never a good idea."
Alcohol was the leading factor in fatal boating accidents nationally last year, according to a recreational boating report by the U.S. Coast Guard. Of the 276 accidents involving alcohol use, 124 of them were fatal. There were a total of 4,789 accidents involving 790 deaths in 2008. Alcohol was also a primary contributing factory in injuries, according to the report.
Also killed in the speedboat accident on Oct. 4, were Canni's wife, Theresa Maniaci-Canni, 46, and Joseph Sugamele, 50. Survivors were Peter Sofia, 54, of <a href="/topics/Farmingdale%2C_NY">Farmingdale</a>; Tom Sulori, 48; Sulori's wife, Laura, 54, of Massepequa; and Sugamele's wife, Deborah, 50. They remain hospitalized at <a href="/topics/Nassau_University_Medical_Center">Nassau University Medical Center</a> in <a href="/topics/East_Meadow%2C_NY">East Meadow</a>.
George Canni, of <a href="/topics/Copiague%2C_NY">Copiague</a>, was the owner of an auto repair shop in <a href="/topics/Baldwin%2C_NY">Baldwin</a>, N.Y., where a man who answered the phone on Thursday identified himself as a nephew. "I have nothing to tell you," the man said, refusing to give his name.
Peter Sofia's 84-year-old mother, Rose Sofia, said that her son was still in the hospital with broken legs. She said he might be coming home in the next few days, and that she had few details about the accident.
She said she had seen Canni at holiday dinners.
"He's a very responsible person," she said. "He's very nice, and caring."

News

Nation/World

NY--Marshland Boat Accident

Lawyer: Alcohol not factor in fatal NY boat crash

The driver of a speedboat that crashed earlier this month off Seaford, killing him, his wife and a friend, and critically injuring four others, was legally drunk, <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> police said Wednesday. 
Det. Lt. Kevin Smith, the department's spokesman, said readings from the county medical examiner's office showed George Canni, 65, of <a href="/topics/Copiague%2C_NY">Copiague</a>, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent when his 40-foot Hustler veered out of a channel the evening of Oct. 4. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-wantagh-parkway-1.1500180">&gt;&gt;PHOTOS: Latest photos of the accident scene and the victims</a> 
The 0.08 percent BAC is the minimum threshold for boating while intoxicated. 
Smith said toxicology results are still pending from the medical examiner. They would show whether Canni had drugs or other substances in him at the time of the crash. Smith declined to comment further. 
The boat crashed onto the shore of Goose Island. In addition to Canni, his wife, Theresa Maniaci-Canni, 46, and friend Joseph Sugamele, 50, were killed. 
&nbsp; 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/cops-boater-in-fatal-crash-off-seaford-legally-drunk-1.1538248">&gt;&gt;VIDEO: Click here to see victims escorted to ambulances on the night of the accident.</a> 
&nbsp; 
The survivors, who suffered various neck, spinal and leg injuries, were Peter Sofia, 54, of <a href="/topics/Farmingdale%2C_NY">Farmingdale</a>; Tom Sulori, 48, and his wife, Laura, 54, of <a href="/topics/Massapequa%2C_NY">Massapequa</a>; and Sugamele's wife, Deborah, 50. The four remain hospitalized at <a href="/topics/Nassau_University_Medical_Center">Nassau University Medical Center</a> in <a href="/topics/East_Meadow%2C_NY">East Meadow</a>. 
The crash occurred after the group had left a <a href="/topics/Freeport%2C_NY">Freeport</a> restaurant and fish market with lobsters they planned to cook at the Cannis' home for dinner, according to friends. 
James Mercante of <a href="/topics/Manhattan">Manhattan</a>, a maritime lawyer representing the Cannis' estate, said Wednesday he couldn't comment on the reading because he hadn't been notified by police. 
"It's not always what it seems at first blush," said Mercante, adding he would be doing his own investigation. "It may have had nothing to do with alcohol at all." 
Larry Weiss, a spokesman for <a href="/topics/United_States">United States</a> Power Squadrons in <a href="/topics/New_York%2C_NY">New York</a>, a boating safety organization, said: "The channels on the South Shore are narrow, they're winding, they're complicated, they're shallow and even with local knowledge and experience, they're difficult to maneuver. . . . Add to that alcohol and darkness, and you have a catastrophe waiting to happen." 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-wantagh-parkway-1.1500180">&gt;&gt;PHOTOS: Latest photos of the accident scene and the victims</a>

LIBOAT22

Cops: Boater in fatal crash off Seaford legally drunk

As friends and family of George Canni and his wife, Theresa Maniaci-Canni, gathered for their funeral, scheduled for Saturday, they recalled the couple's love of the freedom afforded by skimming across the wavetops in their 40-foot Hustler speedboat and rolling down the blacktop on his <a href="/topics/Harley-Davidson%2C_Inc.">Harley-Davidson</a> motorcycle. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-jones-beach-1.1500180">PHOTOS: Powerboat crashes off </a><a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a> 
"They enjoyed their life to the fullest," Theresa's sister, Jo Ann Freeman of Indialantic, Fla., said of the couple killed Sunday night when their boat crashed into a marsh island off <a href="/topics/Seaford%2C_NY">Seaford</a>. A third person on the boat, Joseph Sugamele, 50, of <a href="/topics/Massapequa%2C_NY">Massapequa</a>, also died. "They spent their time boating, biking and entertaining their friends at their home" in <a href="/topics/Copiague%2C_NY">Copiague</a>. 
Those close to the couple talk of their generosity. "No matter what time and what you needed, they were there for you," longtime friend Jim Feynman said. 
George, who owned an automotive business, met Theresa about 15 years ago when she did his nails at a <a href="/topics/Rockville_Centre%2C_NY">Rockville Centre</a> salon. Their love of the water created an instant bond, recalled her mother, Ann Maniaci-Miller of <a href="/topics/Merrick%2C_NY">Merrick</a>. Although George had already owned boats for about 20 years, the sport was new to Theresa. But "she absolutely loved it," her mother said. She felt the same way about climbing on behind George on his Harley Road King. 
George, 65, was born in <a href="/topics/Brooklyn_Bridge%2C_NY">Brooklyn</a> and raised in <a href="/topics/Little_Neck%2C_NY">Little Neck</a>, <a href="/topics/Queens%2C_NY">Queens</a>, where he graduated from <a href="/topics/Bayside%2C_NY">Bayside</a> High School. Later he lived in Douglaston, <a href="/topics/Massapequa%2C_NY">Massapequa</a> and then <a href="/topics/Copiague%2C_NY">Copiague</a> for about 15 years. He started A1 Transmission in <a href="/topics/Baldwin%2C_NY">Baldwin</a> 40 years ago. 
Theresa, 46, lived in <a href="/topics/Centereach%2C_NY">Centereach</a> before her family moved to <a href="/topics/Merrick%2C_NY">Merrick</a>, where she graduated from Calhoun High School. She took classes at <a href="/topics/Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a>. She worked at several salons before marrying George six years ago. "She loved animals," her mother said, and helped dog breeders with grooming as a hobby. 
Joe Logiudice, who heads Hustler Powerboats in <a href="/topics/Calverton%2C_NY">Calverton</a> and had been friends with George for 40 years, said "George and Theresa really loved the water. When we built their boat, Theresa would come out and pick out colors for the interior and George would come out and pick out colors for the outside." 
Every year for the large <a href="/topics/Miami">Miami</a> boat show, Logiudice said, "he would take off from work and come down to <a href="/topics/Miami">Miami</a> for like 10 days and he would take people out for demo rides and work the booth with me. It's hard to find that kind of friend. He brought out the best in other people." 
While the Cannis loved their high-performance boat and powerful Harley, relatives and friends said they weren't reckless speeders. "He was very cautious and knowledgeable about what he did," said a sister, Martina Koenig of <a href="/topics/Seaford%2C_NY">Seaford</a>. "That's why none of us can understand what happened" Sunday night. 
In addition to her mother and sister, Theresa is survived by an aunt, Madeline Ross of Maspeth, <a href="/topics/Queens%2C_NY">Queens</a>, and an uncle, Angelo LaMotto of Massapequa. 
In addition to Koenig, George is survived by two sons, Todd of Washington, D.C., and George of Orange Park, Fla.; two sisters, Linda Johnston of <a href="/topics/Fort_Myers">Fort Myers</a>, Fla., and Patricia Palmer of Marmora, N.J.; and two grandchildren. 
A wake is scheduled for Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Massapequa Funeral Home, 4980 Merrick Rd., <a href="/topics/Massapequa_Park%2C_NY">Massapequa Park</a>. A funeral Mass is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday at St. Barnabas Church in <a href="/topics/Bellmore%2C_NY">Bellmore</a>, with burial at Pinelawn Memorial Park. 
The family asks that donations be made to the North Shore Animal League, where a fund has been set up in the couple's name. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-jones-beach-1.1500180">PHOTOS: Powerboat crashes off </a><a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a>

LICANN09

Mourners remember George and Theresa Canni

The fourth survivor of a fatal boat accident off Seaford has been released from the intensive care unit at <a href="/topics/Nassau_University_Medical_Center">Nassau University Medical Center</a>. 
The condition of all four of the survivors has now been upgraded from critical to stable, a hospital spokeswoman said. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-jones-beach-1.1500180">PHOTOS: Powerboat crashes off Seaford</a> 
The fourth patient, identified by friends as Deborah Sugamele, 50, of <a href="/topics/Massapequa%2C_NY">Massapequa</a>, was released from ICU Tuesday night when a bed became available on a regular floor. 
The other survivors are Peter Sofia, 54, of <a href="/topics/Farmingdale%2C_NY">Farmingdale</a>; Tom Sulori, 48, of <a href="/topics/Massapequa%2C_NY">Massapequa</a>; and his wife, Laura, 54. Fatally injured in the Sunday night crash were George Canni, 65, of <a href="/topics/Copiague%2C_NY">Copiague</a>; his wife, Theresa Maniaci-Canni, 46; and Sugamele's husband, Joseph, 50. 
The 40-foot Hustler owned by the Cannis veered out of a channel around 7:15 p.m. Sunday and crashed onto the shore of Goose Island after it left a <a href="/topics/Freeport%2C_NY">Freeport</a> restaurant and fish market with lobsters the group planned to cook at the Cannis' home for dinner, two close friends said. 
Robert Bracco, an owner of Bracco's Clam &amp; Oyster Bar/Captain Ben's Fish Market, said Wednesday, "We cannot recall Mr. Canni and his party being at our place. It wasn't until Monday did we know they were at our establishment, when the <a href="/topics/Nassau_County_Police">Nassau County Police</a> Department made us aware that the Canni party made a large purchase of lobsters and fish to go from our fish market. One of our regular customers was at our bar and left with the boat. We do not recall seeing the Canni party with him but now know that our regular customer left on Mr. Canni's boat." 
A wake for the Cannis is scheduled for today from 7 to 9 p.m. and tomorrow from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at <a href="/topics/Massapequa%2C_NY">Massapequa</a> Funeral Home, 4980 <a href="/topics/Merrick%2C_NY">Merrick</a> Rd., <a href="/topics/Massapequa_Park%2C_NY">Massapequa Park</a>. A funeral Mass is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday at St. Barnabas Church in <a href="/topics/Bellmore%2C_NY">Bellmore</a> with burial at Pinelawn Memorial Park. 
Arrangements for Joseph Sugamele are pending with the same funeral home. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-jones-beach-1.1500180">PHOTOS: Powerboat crashes off Seaford</a>

LIBOAT08

Seaford boat crash survivor out of intensive care

boat that crashed

The operator of the powerboat that crashed off Seaford on Sunday night, killing three people and injuring four, was heading home to Copiague from a Freeport restaurant and fish market when he made a navigation error that he was trying to correct before the impact, two close friends said Tuesday. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-jones-beach-1.1500180">PHOTOS: Powerboat crashes off </a><a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a> 
Those and other new details of the events leading up to the accident were provided by Jim Feynman, a longtime friend of George Canni - the boat's operator - and Joe Logiudice, another friend who heads Hustler Powerboats in Calverton, which made the boat. 
Feynman, who has talked to the survivors, said the group had gone to Braccos Clam &amp; Oyster Bar on the Woodcleft Canal in Freeport before stopping next door at the fish market to buy lobsters to cook at home. He said he did not know whether the group ate or drank anything at Braccos. 
Employees at the restaurant and Captain's Ben's Fish Dock said Tuesday they did not remember the group. 
<a href="/topics/Nassau_University_Medical_Center">Nassau University Medical Center</a> upgraded the conditions of three survivors Tuesday from critical to stable, a spokeswoman said. A fourth patient, identified by a friend as Deborah Sugamele, will be released from ICU as soon as a bed on a regular floor is available. 
The survivors are Sugamele, 50, of Massapequa, who suffered neck injuries; Tom Sulori, 48, of Massapequa, who had fractured vertebrae in his neck; his wife, Laura, 54, who suffered head injuries; and a man from Farmingdale who is 54 and fractured both legs. 
The crash killed Canni, 65; his wife, Theresa Maniaci-Canni, 46; and Sugamele's husband, Joseph, 50. 
As Nassau police investigate the accident, Logiudice said he got his information from friends and relatives of the survivors being treated at NUMC. 
Logiudice said Canni had "done that [route up Great Island Channel] a hundred times. They lived right there. They weren't going fast. I don't think they were going much over 40 miles an hour." 
The 40-foot Hustler Classic, named Uncanni, came to a stop about 100 yards from the edge of the channel atop Goose Island at about 7:15 p.m., its stern about 10 yards from the water. The boat cost about $400,000, is equipped with twin 420-horsepower diesel engines and has a top speed of about 65 mph, Logiudice said. 
"I really believe that the full moon kind of threw him off base," Logiudice said. "It looks like he just got a little bit to the right of where he was supposed to be. From what I've heard from the people on the boat, he realized he was to the right and tried to turn to the left." But before he could get back on course, the boat hit the island. 
"It seems they were thrown out of the boat sideward and they landed on marsh, which is hard," he said. 
Nassau police Det. Lt. Kevin Smith said, "We have been talking to the survivors, but we're not going to substantiate any stories that might be out there right now. There are no autopsy results yet and our investigators are still going through the boat." 
Police said the boat traveled under the Goose Creek Bridge on the Wantagh Parkway "at a high rate of speed" before heading northeast and crashing more than a mile from the span. The channel under the bridge normally has a 5 mph speed limit but it is now closed because of a construction project. There is no speed limit in the channel by Goose Island. 
A wake for the Cannis, who are survived by two sons, Todd, a Washington, D.C., lawyer and George, a resident of <a href="/topics/Florida">Florida</a>, is scheduled for Thursday and Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Massapequa Funeral Home, 4980 Merrick Rd., Massapequa Park. The funeral Mass is scheduled for Saturday at St. Barnabas Church in Bellmore with burial at Pinelawn Memorial Park. 
Arrangements for Joseph Sugamele are pending. 
With Sophia Chang, Chau Lam and John Valenti 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-jones-beach-1.1500180">PHOTOS: Powerboat crashes off </a><a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a>

LIBOAT07

Friends: Boaters were returning from clam bar

Wantagh boat crash

The operator of a high-performance powerboat passed "at a high rate of speed" under a bridge closed for construction before he crashed into marshland off <a href="/topics/Seaford%2C_NY">Seaford</a>, killing himself, his wife and a friend while leaving four passengers critically injured, police said Monday. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-jones-beach-1.1500180">PHOTOS: Powerboat crashes off </a><a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a> 
About two-thirds of the 76-foot-wide passage under the Goose Creek Bridge on the <a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a> Parkway is blocked off by barges and scaffolding as the state reconstructs the span. 
A sign reading "channel closed" is mounted on a work barge facing west - the direction from which police said George Canni, 65, was traveling Sunday night as he piloted his Hustler powerboat Uncanni. 
The barges and cranes have required navigation lights, and South Shore boaters say they have floodlights, too. Department of Transportation spokeswoman Eileen Peters said the Coast Guard has posted online notices about the closure. 
Canni, of <a href="/topics/Copiague%2C_NY">Copiague</a>, crashed into the southwest corner of Goose Island at about 7:15 p.m. Sunday, a bit more than 1 mile northeast of the bridge. <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> police said Monday that witnesses saw Canni's 40-foot powerboat pass under the bridge at a high speed. The boat then continued a short distance up a 5 mph channel, before entering another area with no posted speed limit. 
It continued straight even when the channel made a dogleg to the left, ran through shallow water, then bounced up onto the marsh island. It came to rest with its stern about 10 yards from the water's end and about 100 yards outside the eastern edge of the channel. All seven people aboard were ejected. 
Police said they did not know how fast the Cigarette-style boat was going, but its manufacturer said it was built to go 60 or 65 mph. The channel where it crashed is 30 yards wide. 
Boating safety experts were stunned by the accident. 
"There are U.S. Coast Guard rules of the road for nighttime piloting," said Capt. Russ Cohen, founder and president of the <a href="/topics/New_Jersey%2C_NY">New Jersey</a>-based Boatboy Marine Training, which trains mariners. 
"He should have known the bridge was closed to traffic. By law all small bridges are slow zones with no wakes. The definition of a safe speed is one at which you can avoid a collision." 
Also killed in the crash were Theresa Maniaci-Canni, 46, and a friend of the couple's, Joseph Sugamele, 50, of <a href="/topics/Massapequa%2C_NY">Massapequa</a>. Police identified the four injured as a woman, 54, who suffered head trauma and was in critical condition at <a href="/topics/Nassau_University_Medical_Center">Nassau University Medical Center</a>; her husband, 48, who suffered fractured vertebrae, also at NUMC; a 50-year-old woman who also suffered fractured vertebrae and was taken to New Island Hospital; and a 54-year-old man from <a href="/topics/Farmingdale%2C_NY">Farmingdale</a> who suffered fractures in both legs and was taken to NUMC. All were listed in critical condition. 
Police said they were investigating all possible factors in the accident. Sources said there were no obvious signs of alcohol use. Autopsy results have not been released. 
Sea Tow <a href="/topics/Freeport%2C_NY">Freeport</a> Capt. John Duryea, who said he arrived on the scene shortly after the crash, said the evening was hazy and even with the full moon, "the visibility was definitely restricted." 
"To hit the marsh and run up on top of it like that, you would have to be going at a pretty good rate of speed," said <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> police Det. Lt. Kevin Smith Sunday evening. 
Friends and boating experts expressed shock that an experienced boater such as Canni would be involved. Canni was "a very careful guy who never took any chances," said Joe Logiudice, a 40-year friend of Canni's whose company, Hustler Powerboats of <a href="/topics/Calverton%2C_NY">Calverton</a>, built Canni's boat. "They've gone that way 100 times," Logiudice said. 
With Mark Harrington 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-jones-beach-1.1500180">PHOTOS: Powerboat crashes off </a><a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a> 
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LIBOAT06

Cops: Boater in fatal crash was traveling at high speed

John Duryea

When George Canni was not at work at his transmission repair shop in <a href="/topics/Baldwin%2C_NY">Baldwin</a>, he could be found working on his speedboat or putting it on the water for a ride, according to a nephew and a neighbor. 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-jones-beach-1.1500180">PHOTOS: Powerboat crashes off </a><a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a> 
Sunday was the perfect day to do just that. The sun was out. The sky was clear. The air was crisp. 
"I'm going to take it out for a last ride and we're going to go out for dinner," Steve Marotta recalled what Canni, his next-door neighbor in Copiague, told him Sunday morning. 
Afterward, Canni told Marotta, he was going to store the boat for the winter. 
Marotta didn't know where Canni, 65, and his wife, Theresa Maniaci-Canni, 46, had planned to go for dinner but he said the couple frequently stopped in <a href="/topics/Island_Park%2C_NY">Island Park</a> for a bite. 
Monday, outside A1 <a href="/topics/Baldwin%2C_NY">Baldwin</a> Transmission, which Canni owned and operated for 40 years, his nephew, Jerry Koenig of <a href="/topics/Seaford%2C_NY">Seaford</a>, struggled to come to terms with the crash that killed his uncle and aunt. 
"This is the worst day of my life," Koenig said. "We just don't know what happened. He's been in that water since before I was born." 
Koenig said his uncle used to race boats until about 15 years ago. 
"He lived on the water," Koenig said. "If he wasn't here [at the shop], he was on his boat." 
Marotta said Canni kept his prized boat docked in a slip behind his waterfront home and would hoist it above the water to protect it. 
Canni's business had been open for so many years he was well known in the community, Koenig said, adding that he was inundated with calls from friends and acquaintances Monday asking whether it was Canni who died in the horrific crash Sunday. 
"He's an icon in this town," said Koenig, who helped out at the shop periodically since he was 12, and worked alongside his uncle as a manager. 
Canni's neighbor, Marotta, said he went to the Cannis' house Sunday morning to inform Theresa Maniaci-Canni that the duck she and his 11-year-old son, Nick, rescued in May and nursed back to health had to be euthanized. 
The duck, named Quacky, was initially attacked by swans in the lagoon behind the Marottas' and the Cannis' homes, which both sit on the Gateway Lagoon. A few days ago, a raccoon attacked Quacky and he was badly injured. 
Marotta said Theresa Maniaci-Canni was a homemaker and she and Nick used to go crabbing in the lagoon. 
Joe Logiudice's whose company, Hustler Power Boats of Calverton, built Canni's boat, was also his friend for four decades. 
Logiudice said he and Canni spoke nearly every morning. 
"We spent every New Year's Eve together," Logiudice said. "He was a person you could truly call a friend. You could call him at 12 at night and he was there. . . . You only get a few friends like that." 
With Jennifer Barrios and Laura Rivera 
<a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/boat-crashes-near-jones-beach-1.1500180">PHOTOS: Powerboat crashes off </a><a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a> 
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'He lived on the water': Recalling boat crash victim

Boater's neighbor

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