Crime & Safety

Police: 'Reckless Boating' Led to Deadly Accident in Shelton

State police arrested a Chaplin man whose passenger drowned after his boat crashed on the Housatonic River.


State police have made an arrest in relation to the Dec. 7, 2012, boating accident on the Housatonic River in Shelton that claimed the life of a 55-year-old man.

According to a release from Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), Environmental Conservation (EnCon) Police today arrested Burt W. Hamilton, 54, of Chaplin.

Hamilton was charged with first-degree reckless boating, failure to maintain proper lookout and speed in excess of slow-no-wake zone.

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In the accident, the release states, Hamilton’s boat collided with a dock piling while he was trying to return the boat to Sunnyside Boat Ramp in Shelton. When the boat struck the piling, a passenger, Donald Bessette of Chaplin, fell overboard and subsequently drowned.

"The investigation conducted by EnCon Police’s Boating Accident Reconstruction Unit determined that Bessette was allegedly ejected from the boat when it collided with the dock piling," the report states.

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Hamilton is scheduled to appear in Derby Superior Court on April 1.


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