Actor’s son convicted of lesser charge

Press, 20 December 1986, Page 13

Actor’s son convicted of lesser charge

NZPA-Reuter Annapolis

The son of the actor, Ryan O’Neal, Griffin, was convicted yesterday of reckless and negligent operation of a boat but acquitted of a more serious charge of boat manslaughter and three other counts over the death of Gian Carlo Coppola on May 26. Judge Martin Wolff said he found that Griffin O’Neal was “operating the boat in a manner that endangered the person and property of others.” O’Neal, aged 22, faces a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail and a SUSIOOO ($2000) fine on the recklessness charge. He would have faced a maximum five years in jail and a $2OOO fine if convicted of boat manslaughter. The Judge, sitting in the Arundel County Court, remanded O’Neal for sentence on February 27. Mr Coppola, aged 23, was the son of the movie director, Francis Ford Coppola. He died when a 4.3 m runabout he and O’Neal had rented struck a tow line between two other craft on the South River, near Annapolis, Maryland.

The tow-line struck the boat and crushed Mr Coppola’s skull.

O’Neal first told marine police that Mr Coppola had been driving the boat. He was charged in July with boat manslaughter and four reckless driving counts after he admitted that he had been driving.