A 29-year-old South Dakota man has now been charged in connection with the fatal hit-and-run boating accident that happened almost two weeks ago on Lake Okoboji. Justin Allen Nearman of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was charged with operating a motorboat while intoxicated, resulting in the death of another person. Nearman was arrested in Sioux Falls on Tuesday afternoon. Fifty-one-year-old Michael Brosnahan, a Perry dentist, was killed August 12th on West Lake Okoboji. His funeral was held Monday. His wife, Jill, was seriously injured but she has been released from the hospital.
Nearman faces a second felony charge of drunken boating, causing serious injury, in connection with the injuries Jill Brosnahan suffered. Officials believe 21-year-old Ryan Deighton of Sioux Falls was a passenger in the boat that hit the Brosnahans, but charges are not being filed against Deighton. The boat involved was found eight days after the accident — still at the lake. Baskins says Nearman — the South Dakota man that’s been charged in the accident — did not own the boat.