SEATTLE (AP) — A suburban real estate agent accused of causing a Lake Washington boat collision that killed a teacher and injured two other people has been ordered held on $500,000 bail.
The Seattle Times reports that a judge on Friday found probable cause to hold 46-year-old Richard Hicks of Renton for investigation of one count of homicide by watercraft and two counts of assault by watercraft.
Prosecutors allege in court papers that a 25-foot motorboat operated by Hicks was traveling at high speed Wednesday night on the lake when it collided with a 21-foot sailboat carrying seven people. Three people from the sailboat were tossed into the water, including 33-year-old Melissa Protz. The King County medical examiner’s office says she died of multiple fractures.
Two other sailboat passengers were taken to a hospital; one remained hospitalized Friday.
According to court papers, police said they could smell alcohol on Hicks’ breath. They said his eyes were red, bloodshot and watery and his speech was slurred. It was not immediately known late Friday whether he was represented by a lawyer.
Protz was a Seattle schoolteacher, her father said.
She was an adventurer whose wanderlust took her from her home in small-town Wisconsin to Australia and eventually Seattle, a city she adopted and adored for its natural beauty, John Protz said.
Melissa Protz taught at Assumption-St. Bridget School in Ravenna, her father said. According to the school website, she taught middle-school science at the private school.
She had previously worked as a veterinary technician, her father said. “She loved the kids, she loved teaching, she loved the subject matter,” he said.
The eldest of the two Protz children, Melissa attended the University of Wisconsin before transferring to James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. She obtained her Master in Teaching degree from Seattle University, John Protz said.
She lived in Seattle with her loyal companion, an Australian shepherd, her father said.
“It’s tough when a life is snuffed out like that. We’re the ones worse off,” John Protz said.
Two others, a man in his early 40s and a woman in her early 30s, were taken to Harborview Medical Center.
None of the four people who were on the powerboat fell into the water, according to reports.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year in jail, with all the time suspended.
