A man from Sudan, Texas, indicted by the Brown County Grand Jury, turned himself in at the Brown County Law Enforcement Center on Monday, May 17.
According to Brown County Jail Records, Trent Lee Houchin, 32, had bond set at $50,000 and
was released on the same day.
Jail records indicate he is charged with six counts of Intoxication Assault, a 3rd degree felony, and six counts of Aggravated Assault, a 2nd degree felony. The indictment also carries a Deadly Weapon Enhancement.
This stems from a boating accident on Lake Brownwood in May 2020. According to the indictment, Houchin is alleged to have “operated a watercraft while intoxicated by reason of introduction of alcohol into the body, and did by reason of such intoxication cause serious bodily injury to another.”
The indictment further presents “said acts of recklessness while piloting the watercraft include: Piloting watercraft at night; while under the influence of alcohol; without a proper lookout; at an unsafe speed; while the driver was inexperienced with operating a boat; lacked sufficient familiarity with the lake; or with decreased visibility.”
According to a report which appeared on KOXE.com on May 28, 2020, approximately midnight, or shortly thereafter, various law enforcement agencies, fire departments and medical personnel were dispatched to Lake Brownwood where a boat had crashed into a long pier.
A man, whose house is near the entrance to the pier, told KOXE News at the scene he believed seven people were in the boat when it crashed. He provided a ladder to help emergency personnel get down to the water’s edge.
Three Air Evac medical helicopters took patients to Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene and John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.
In addition, the Brown County Grand Jury also indicted Payton Brynn Tolbert, 18, for six counts of Intoxication Assault, 3rd degree felony, and six counts of Aggravated Assault, 2nd degree felony in connection with the boating accident. The indictment also carries a Deadly Weapon Enhancement. Bond was set at $50,000, according to the indictment.
(In the photo – the boat involved in the boating accident as it appeared on Brownwoodnews.com)