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$1M bail for man charged with Libertyville boy’s tubing death
David Hatyina
Updated: October 24, 2012 10:06PM
WAUKEGAN — Bail was set at $1 million Tuesday for a northwest suburban man charged with having cocaine and alcohol in his system at the time of a tubing accident on the Chain of Lakes that left a 10-year-old Libertyville boy dead.
David Hatyina, 50, of Bartlett, is charged with reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence causing death, according to Lake County State’s Attorney’s office.
Antonio Borcia, of the first block of Jessica Lane in Libertyville, was being pulled on an inner tube on Petite Lake by a pontoon boat about 4:30 p.m. July 28 when he fell off and was struck by a passing craft, according to Tim Schweizer of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Petite Lake is on the west side of U.S. 59, between Grand Avenue and Grass Lake Road, near Lake Villa.
Hatyina was operating his 29-foot Baja Outlaw power boat at a high rate of speed while under the influence of both cocaine and alcohol, prosecutors said.
Antonio was riding an inner tube with his 12-year-old sister, being towed by their father, Jim Borcia, prosecutors said. His 18-year-old sister and 15-year-old brother were also on the pontoon boat.
When Antonio fell off his father immediately turned the boat around to pick him up and noticed a large white boat “flying down the middle of the lake” and coming towards the boy, prosecutors said.
His father and two oldest siblings waved their arms and yelled but Hatyina ran over Antonio, who was floating in the water, wearing a bright red life preserver, and waving his arms in an effort to be seen, prosecutors said.
The boy was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:39 p.m. and was taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. He died as a result of blunt force trauma, according to Lake County Coroner Artis Yancey, who said a forensic exam was performed.
Hatyina’s blood-alcohol level was between 0.09 and 0.128 percent, which is over the legal limit, prosecutors said. A forensic test later revealed he ingested cocaine within hours of the incident.
A man who was on a boat in a nearby lake just hours earlier told police he saw a boat matching the description of Hatyina’s Baja Outlaw power boat, operated by a man matching his description, driving recklessly on the lake at an excessive speed in the hours before the accident.
The victim would have entered the fifth grade at Butterfield School in Libertyville Elementary School District 70, were he was reported to be a well-liked student leader.
“Tony was the sweetest, nicest boy,” his family said in a statement released to the media. “His smile lit up the room. He loved his family and his friends to no end. He will be so terribly missed,”
The family statement said the accident “turned our world up-side-down and changed our lives forever. Our beloved 10-year-old baby boy, Tony Borcia, was at one moment enjoying a fun-filled afternoon with his family, smiling, laughing, and having the time of his life. The next moment, he was taken from us forever.
Borcia’s father “had to call Tony’s mom, Margaret, while she was at home alone, and tell her that her baby boy was dead,” according to the statement. “Somehow, through the Grace of God, our family WILL make it through this tragedy. But we will NEVER be the same.”
