LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. (WNYT)- Alex West, the man convicted of driving his boat over a family on Lake George and killing an 8-year-old girl, will be released from prison. Mark Mulholland has learned that the state parole board voted 2 to 1 to release West during its meeting this month. 

West was convicted at trial of manslaughter in the July 2016 boating crash that killed little Charlotte McCue and badly injured her mother. West had been drinking and drugging all day on the lake before he ran his boat over the top of the other boat and then kept going without calling 9-1-1. 

In 2017, the judge sentenced West to 5 to 15 years in prison. He was denied parole in 2022 and has served 7 and a half years of his sentence. Charlotte McCue’s grandfather, Robert Knarr tells Mark Mulholland that West, who is now 32, will be released as soon as his county parole officer approves his living arrangements. 

Charlotte’s death inspired a movement on Lake George to reduce impaired boating and resulted in the elimination of “Log Bay Day,” an annual gathering where young boaters would tie their boats together in Log Bay, and drink and party.