CICERO - The man at the helm during a deadly boat collision had been partying with friends and was kissing a woman sitting on his lap moments before the crash that killed an 85-year-old fisherman on Oneida Lake last week, according to court documents.

After the accident, 21-year-old Brad Bouthillier and his friends floated nearby for several minutes before Bouthillier fled the scene without getting help for John Kowalewski of Geddes.

“Everyone in our boat was panicking,” the woman, Danielle Ackerina, told police. “Brad kept saying, ‘What should I do? What should I do? I'm going to get into so much trouble.”'

Ackerina said she told Bouthillier that she saw a man on the boat.

“Just before we hit his boat, the old man's eyes met mine and we looked right at each other,” said Ackerina, who was sitting on Bouthillier's lap when the accident happened. “It all happened so quick Brad didn't have a chance to turn or stop.”

Bouthillier, of Cicero, surrendered to state police Tuesday, five days after the crash. He was arraigned in Constantia Town Court on charges of criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal boating accident, both felonies, and first-degree unlawfully dealing with a child, a misdemeanor charge that he gave alcohol to a 19-year-old passenger.

Bouthillier's 20-foot Starcraft hit the front of Kowalewski's 19-foot Bayliner some time after 5:30 p.m. Thursday, state police said. A boater found Kowalewski's boat adrift, with his body inside, about 2 hours later.

State police said they spent the past five days interviewing Bouthillier's six companions to find out exactly what happened. Bouthillier has not given a statement, state police said Tuesday.

The passengers told police they spent the day at Sylvan Beach drinking hard iced tea, beer, and rum.

Except for Ackerina and Bouthillier, they also smoked marijuana. Ackerina said she saw Bouthillier with only one drink all day.

“In his opinion, my client was sober and perfectly capable of operating that boat,” said Salvatore Piemonte, Bouthillier's attorney.

The passengers also told state police that an Oneida County sheriff's deputy at Sylvan Beach had questioned them twice during the day of the accident and let them go both times.

After the crash, everyone went to Bouthillier's home for about 10 minutes, Ackerina said. Later that night, she decided she was going to tell police about the crash.

Piemonte said his client was ready to surrender the day after the crash. Piemonte said he contacted police at 2 a.m. Friday.