Oshkosh Boat Crash Trial: Defendant's daughter testifies during Day 2

The trial continued Tuesday against Jason Lindemann, who is accused of crashing a power boat into a paddle wheel boat on the Fox River in July 2022 and leaving the scene.

• The defendant's daughter testified Tuesday; she said she was working at the Dockside Tavern in the hours before the incident, saw her father there, and he did not appear intoxicated in her brief interactions with him
• A member of the crew of the "On the Loos" paddle wheel boat said the boat was over its normal passenger limit the night of the crash, after some passengers sneaked aboard
• Watch the video to hear some of what was said in court

Lindemann's defense attorney said the crash was an accident, and the power boat returned to the paddle wheel boat for a time after the crash.

On Tuesday, the defendant’s daughter Madison testified.

She said she was working at the Dockside Tavern in Oshkosh and remembered her dad coming into the establishment before the crash on the day it happened.

Her father owns Dockside Tavern.

The prosecution and defense asked Madison whether her father appeared intoxicated that night.

"Those little bits that I was with him, he didn’t appear intoxicated at all," she told the court.

The prosecution also asked her about being on bodycam footage the night of the crash, talking about a gut feeling she had after hearing about the crash.

"After I knew which boats were involved, I guess, yes, I had a gut feeling because I knew that one of them was his boat," she testified.

Later came testimony from a crew member of the paddle wheel boat the night of the crash.

He said that before the cruise, some passengers sneaked on board and they were over their normal passenger limit.

Prosecutors say that after the crash, one person was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and others went to the hospital later on.

A Winnebago County Sheriff's deputy also testified, and said he was unable to reach Lindemann in the hours after the crash, and no member of law enforcement was able to reach him.

Most of the day Tuesday was spent hearing testimony from people who said they were passengers on board the paddle wheel boat the night of the crash.

“I was instantly in hero mode [after the crash]," one man testified.

"Because my girl was aboard... I just instantly thought about my girlfriend, just making sure she was OK."