By Travis Gettys
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEWPORT - Witnesses Tuesday said a Columbus-area man charged in a hit-and-run boat crash on the Ohio River last June appeared to be intoxicated before the accident.

The testimony came during a hearing in Campbell County Circuit Court in which defense attorneys sought to exclude statements from witnesses who saw Glenn C. Colann in the hours before the crash near Dayton, Ky., that injured seven people.

Colann, an automobile dealer, is charged with four counts of first-degree assault, seven counts of first-degree wanton endangerment and three counts of fourth-degree assault. He remains free on a $20,000 cash bond and is scheduled to stand trial May 3.

Judge William Wehr made no ruling Tuesday.

Witnesses testified in a grand jury hearing last October that Colann seemed intoxicated and was operating his boat erratically before the crash. Defense attorneys want some of that testimony excluded, saying it covers periods as many as three hours before the June 27 crash.

Three of the witnesses who testified during the grand jury hearing also were called for questioning by defense attorneys at Tuesday's suppression hearing.

David Miller of Anderson Township said he was acquainted with Colann before a chance meeting on the river led to an invitation to join him at Ludlow Bromley Yacht Club.

After they arrived at the marina between 8:30 and 9 o'clock the night of the crash, Colann appeared to be charged with "liquid adrenaline," Miller said.

Miller and his companions ordered drinks from the bar, and he and another witness, Mitchell Blades of Covington, said Colann joined them.

Before their dinner arrived, Colann invited Miller and Blades to inspect his 40-foot Baja speedboat, called "Snap Decision," where they say he appeared to be intoxicated.

Colann was stumbling, and his speech was loud and slurred, Miller said - "just about everything you'd expect from someone who'd been drinking all day."

E-mail tgettys@enquirer.com