CRIME

Boston man pleads not guilty to drunken boating after passenger's arm is torn off by propeller

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Benjamin P. Urbelis, 33, of Charlestown, center, appears for his arraignment at Boston Municipal Court on Monday, June 1, 2015. Urbelis, a Boston attorney who specializes in defending people charged with drunken driving, has been held on $75,000 bail after pleading not guilty to operating a boat while drunk after a passenger fell overboard and lost her arm in the propeller. (Ted Fitzgerald/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool) (The Associated Press)

Benjamin P. Urbelis, 33, of Charlestown, center, appears for his arraignment at Boston Municipal Court on Monday, June 1, 2015. Urbelis, a Boston attorney who specializes in defending people charged with drunken driving, has been held on $75,000 bail after pleading not guilty to operating a boat while drunk after a passenger fell overboard and lost her arm in the propeller. (Ted Fitzgerald/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool) (The Associated Press)

Benjamin P. Urbelis, 33, of Charlestown, right, appears for his arraignment at Boston Municipal Court on Monday, June 1, 2015. Urbelis, a Boston attorney who specializes in defending people charged with drunken driving, has been held on $75,000 bail after pleading not guilty to operating a boat while drunk after a passenger fell overboard and lost her arm in the propeller Saturday night. (Ted Fitzgerald/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool) (The Associated Press)

A Boston attorney who specializes in defending people charged with drunken driving has pleaded not guilty to operating a boat while drunk after a passenger fell overboard and lost her arm in the propeller.

Benjamin Urbelis was held on $75,000 bail and ordered to surrender his passport at his arraignment Monday.

Police and the Coast Guard allege the 33-year-old Urbelis was operating his 29-foot boat Naut Guilty on Saturday night in Boston Harbor when the 19-year-old woman jumped in the water to retrieve something that fell overboard.

The woman was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is recovering.

Urbelis' lawyer says his client is an accomplished professional and not a flight risk.

Officials say 13 people were on the boat. Firefighters searched but failed to find the woman's arm.