Prominent Houston lawyer faces charge in Lake Travis boat crash

Douglas E. McWilliams is accused of leaving the scene of the crash.

On the n ight of May 10, a group of Houston lawyers from the prominent law firm Vinson & Elkins arrived at a colleague’s weekend home overlooking Lake Travis for a buffet dinner before a daylong retreat the next morning.

When they got ready to return to their hotel after 10 p.m., they learned their shuttle bus had bro- ken down. Douglas E. McWilliams, a partner in the firm’s mergers and acquisitions division, offered to ferry five of them in his boat to the Lakeway Resort and Spa.

McWilliams was at the helm of the vessel when it crashed into a swath of land near Graveyard Point, seriously injuring two of his passengers.

McWilliams, who was thrown out of the boat in the crash, told his injured colleagues that he was going to get help, according to him and his attorney. But they did not hear from him for nearly five hours. That raised fears among authorities that he might be in the water and triggered a search that included the use of the Austin police helicopter. Investigators say in an affidavit the “suspect fled the location.”

Now McWilliams, 48, is facing a felony charge.

But McWilliams, who represents large firms on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, says he left because a passenger trying to call 911 had trouble with cellphone service. McWilliams, who had left his phone at home, said he lost track of time after leaving the boat, and was stunned to hear that several hours had elapsed before he finally made contact with someone who called an ambulance.

“After finding out what time it was when EMS arrived, I believe I must have fainted or passed out for several hours from the combination of extreme pain I was under, the shock of the accident and the incredible stress I was under,” McWilliams wrote in a statement. “It’s the only explanation I can think of to account for the amount of time that passed before finally finding a place where I could call 911.”

On Thursday, an investigator for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department accused him of a felony — leaving the scene of the crash — and said in a two-page arrest affidavit that, based on interviews, “the suspect had been drinking” prior to the crash. But McWilliams’ attorney, Brian Roark, provided the American-Statesman with multiple sworn affidavits from McWilliams’ fellow lawyers, including the firm’s chairman, defending him and saying that he was not drunk at any point that evening.

McWilliams has not been booked into jail. A warrant for his arrest was issued, but it was later recalled while the case remains under investigation and to allow McWilliams to take a previously scheduled trip abroad.

Travis County First Assistant District Attorney Mindy Montford said the investigation is ongoing and that charges are pending.

In his statement, McWilliams said, “I was not hiding from anyone as I had nothing to hide. I was not intoxicated when the wreck occurred, or for that matter, at any time during the night, and it’s ridiculous and insulting to me to suggest that I’d run and hide while my colleagues were suffering in an attempt to avoid responsibility for anything.”

Leaving the scene

In a lengthy statement, Roark said that McWilliams should be exempt from prosecution because he went to summon help, a legal reason for leaving the scene of a crash. He also said the investigator assigned the case was presented with the affidavits of 17 people who were with his client that evening, and that “to our knowledge, not a single witness was contacted by the game warden to ask follow up questions or clarify any issues.”

Roark said the investigator appeared to have intentionally omitted statements from the witnesses in order to build his case.

In an arrest affidavit, parks and wildlife investigator Adam Alvarez said two of the five passengers were taken by helicopter to the hospital after the crash, which happened just before 11 p.m., including one who had fractured facial bones, fractured ribs and a fractured vertebra.

“Suspect’s time at the scene after the collision was so brief that the victims and witnesses involved were uncertain if they even saw the suspect after the crash,” Alvarez wrote. “These uncertain reports led emergency personnel to search the surrounding water and to check for suspect’s body.”

Nearly five hours later, at 3:54 a.m., McWilliams made contact using a call box with someone at a home on Casablanca Lane in Lakeway, said he was in an accident and needed help. Paramedics took him to a nearby hospital.

In his six-page affidavit, McWilliams said that during the evening he did not consume more than two or three drinks and did not drink anything but water after about 8:15 p.m.

“I was not involved in conversations with the other passengers (while operating the boat),” he wrote. “I was solely focused on driving the boat and making sure it was operated in a safe manner.”

‘Somewhat a blur’

At one point on the way from his home to the resort, he said he inadvertently entered a cove that he thought was the main body of the lake. He said he realized what he had done and turned around. About that time, he struck land in a shallow part of the lake.

“The accident and moments after are somewhat a blur,” he wrote. “My only impressions from it are: we were tumbling, I slammed up against something three times, and I remember being thrown from the boat.”

In the aftermath, McWilliams said he remembers one of the passengers staring at his phone and saying he was having a hard time contacting 911 and didn’t know where they were.

“I specifically recall telling him to keep trying to call 911 and that I will also go try to find some help,” he wrote. “I felt a frantic need to get help.”

He said he started running in extreme darkness and felt disoriented. He said he was struggling to run or walk.

McWilliams said he wanted to knock on a door, but his efforts were met with “a very vicious dog.” Finally, he found a house with a call box, and asked the owner to call 911.

Roark ended his statement saying that he plans to ask prosecutors to independently evaluate the case before moving forward.

“We expect a more professional review by the district attorney’s office will result in Mr. McWilliams being cleared from any wrongdoing,” he said.