DWI Attorney Held on Cash Bail After Drunk Boating Incident

A local DWI attorney was arraigned in Suffolk County Court and held on cash bail after allegedly operating a boat while intoxicated that caused a woman to fall overboard and lose her arm by the boat’s propeller while in the water.

Benjamin Urbelis, 33, of Charlestown, was arrested on May 30, 2015, on the charge of operating under the influence. On June 1, he was arraigned and the charges were upgraded to operating a boat while under the influence causing serious bodily injury, negligent operation of a boat, and operating a motorboat without a legally required identification number.

According to alerts, at just before 8 p.m. on May 30, Marine Unit 1 of the Boston Fire Department and the U.S. Coast Guard were sent to a boat incident on the southwest side of Spectacle Island where a person was injured. A woman with “a serious injury” was transported to Black Falcon Pier. It was later revealed to be “a traumatic amputation injury in the water by Spectacle Island,” due to a propeller strike in the water.

According to press reports, a number of people jumped into the water to help the woman get back into the boat. There were 12 or 13 passengers on the boat at the time of the incident.

On his website, Urbelis, a defense attorney that formerly worked as a prosecutor, stated that his firm specialized in DWI cases. He also touted that they were able to deliver “not guilty” verdicts in more than 80 percent of the cases that he brought to trial.

According to Jake Wark, the press secretary for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, Urbelis was held on $75,000 cash bail and ordered to surrender his passport.

He’s in court again on June 26.