A 38 year-old Sebewaing man was convicted last week on three counts of assault with intent to do great bodily harm for a February confrontation on an icy Huron County canal.
Tanner Carr was also found guilty by a Huron County jury on Wednesday, December 4, for one count of felonious operation of a vessel, and one count of reckless operation of a vessel. The investigation began on February 23, 2024, when the Huron County Dispatch received a call for help.
The victim told the responding sheriff’s deputy that he, his father and his friend were ice fishing on a canal at the end of Kilmanagh Road in Sebewaing Township. While fishing, the defendant, Carr, came down from the bay onto the canal, driving an airboat with a passenger of his own. When coming into the canal, the airboat was breaking up the ice.
The victim and defendant have known each other for decades, but several years back, there were issues that resulted in the two of them no longer being friends. When Carr stopped the airboat by the men, he started to confront the former friend, who instead ignored him. After yelling at the victim and the victim’s father, and being told to settle down, Carr then started the airboat and floored it at the victim.
All three of the people on the ice ran for shore, but only two made it safely, with the victim’s father falling through the ice, into the 8 feet of water below. When the victim and his friend were not able to pull his father out of the water, he ran to his nearby residence to get a rope and was able to get help from a good Samaritan along the way.
Between the three of them and the rope, they were able to pull the victim’s father out of the freezing water. The father suffered injuries to his hands due to the length of time he was in the water.
When the officers spoke with Carr the day after the incident, he stated he was not there, and that he was being framed for what the victim said happened. Carr was arraigned less than a week later, on February 28, 2024, on three counts of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon, and two misdemeanor offenses.
The case was later amended to three counts of Assault with Intent to do Great Bodily Harm, Felonious Operation of a Vessel (Airboat), Obstructing or Interfering with sports fishing, and Reckless Operation of a Vessel. With trial on Tuesday, December 3, and going into the evening of December 4th, the jury was presented with testimony from the three men on the ice, as well as Carr’s own passenger in the airboat.
Carr also testified that he lied to police about being on his airboat, but also testified that he had no intent to harm anyone and was just trying to turn the airboat around. During the trial, the court dismissed the charge of Interfering with Fishing.
After approximately an hour and 45 minutes of deliberation, a jury of six women and six men found Carr guilty of all the remaining counts. Sentencing was set for February 3, 2025, at 9:00 a.m.
The three primary charges, Assault with Intent to do Great Bodily Harm, carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
