Oceanside man again charged in fatal boat-water scooter collision

An Oceanside man whose allegedly reckless operation of a boat resulted in the death of an 18-year-old on a water scooter in 2019 was charged with second-degree manslaughter and other charges in an indictment announced Thursday by Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly.

Christopher Palma, 48, pleaded not guilty Thursday to the manslaughter charge, second-degree assault, criminally negligent homicide and reckless operation of a vehicle during an arraignment in Mineola before Nassau Judge Robert Bogle. 

Bogle set bail at a $20,000 bond or cash, or a $10,000 partially secured bond. He is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 31.

Palma was originally indicted in March 2020 in the July 14, 2019, death of Caitlin McDonald, 18, of Rockville Centre. Bogle dismissed the indictment in 2021. An appellate court affirmed that decision, saying that the grand jury proceeding overseen by the prosecutor was impaired on several grounds. The justices did not address the merits of the case.

Donnelly’s office presented the case to a Nassau County grand jury, which returned the indictment Palma was arraigned on Thursday. 

Palma’s attorney, Stephen LaMagna, blasted the district attorney’s office for criminalizing what he called “a tragic accident.” 

Prosecutors said that McDonald had joined her father and others on a water scooter tour on July 14 2019, in the vicinity of Middle Bay Channel, near Parsonage Cove and Baldwin Harbor. 

The personal watercraft were traveling in a single file perpendicular to the path of Palma’s Fountain Lightning speed boat. Palma, who prosecutors said was an experienced boater, was allegedly operating his vessel at a high speed. 

Several of the water scooters crossed the path of Palma’s boat, and prosecutors said Palma was required to reduce speed and yield right of way to the victim, who approached from the starboard side of his vessel. Palma maintained course and his vessel collided with McDonald’s jet ski. McDonald was thrown into the water with grave injuries. 

LaMagna said McDonald had never been on a water scooter before and had been instructed to cross the path of Palma’s boat by tour guides with LB Wake and Watersports, an Island Park company. LaMagna said McDonald’s scooter T-boned Palma’s boat, which was also carrying his wife and children. 

“It was a tragic accident, especially since the evidence shows the jet skier was following instructions of a guide from LB Wake. She crossed the channel and regrettably crashed into my client’s boat mid-ship,” LaMagna said. 

McDonald’s father and other boaters joined officers from the Nassau County Police Department’s Marine Bureau and first responders from the police Emergency Ambulance Bureau, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Town of Hempstead to render aid to the victim, but she was later pronounced dead at Long Beach Medical Center.