The accident on Lake Cieceres happened on August 25.
A family of four - mum, dad, and two children - decided to spend a Sunday afternoon on SUP boards. They also spotted people in a motorboat. The first time they passed, someone from the boat even waved.
Linda Bērziņa and her daughter were on one SUP board. She noticed the same boat coming from the other side and two people getting out and getting ready to water ski. Her husband and son were closer to the boat and, according to Linda, they saw alcohol being consumed.
The boat started moving. Linda had no idea that people who had just seen her and her child and even waved their hand could become dangerous, but she was wrong.
"When I realized that he was really going to hit me, I panicked and screamed. My son and my husband told me that they heard me screaming insanely. Paula said, Mummy, why are you screaming? And I remember I was so scared that I couldn't scream anymore," said Linda.
The edge of the boat hit the SUP board and the mother and her little girl, four-year-old Paula, fell into the water.
No one on the boat seemed to want to help them.
"They were just laughing and mocking. I was screaming - help, help... I was panicking, but it was the moment when my child was hitting the water with her hands and kicking the air, and I realised as a mother that no one was coming to help me," Linda recalled.
She said that later someone from the boat shouted at her, "I'll blow your head off, you bitch!"
The police arrived at the scene an hour and a half later.
The day after the accident, little Paula became unwell and was admitted to the hospital. The child will need therapy to ensure that the experience does not affect her future life.
The police decision states that the person driving the speedboat that hit Linda and Paula is liable to an administrative fine of €250. Linda believes that the State Police (NP) handled the case negligently.
On October 11, the police decided to refuse to open criminal proceedings, saying that the accident involved an unidentified speedboat and its driver was also unknown, although two days earlier the same police officer had decided to administratively punish the speedboat's driver.
Aigars Zaļkalns, Chief Inspector of the Saldus Station of the Kurzeme Region of the State Police (VP), explained to 4. studija that in this case criminal proceedings should not be initiated because the victims suffered "minor injuries".
Asked why the boat driver was not breathalyzed and why the interrogation took place only a week later, Zaļkalns admitted: "Maybe there were some mistakes."
Mārtiņš Brižs, Head of the Response Unit at the South Kurzeme Precinct of the Kurzeme Regional Directorate of the State Police, pointed out that administrative fines are issued for each offense, and in this case, there were several:
"One of the administrative offenses is related to the violation of the rules for driving a recreational craft, including the violation of the rules for navigation and maneuvering; it is for the collision itself. The other administrative procedure is in relation to the abandonment of the scene, where the driver was obliged to report immediately, to render assistance. So there are conditions here too, and there is another offense, namely for failure to comply with the procedure laid down by the legislation after a water accident."
"So there are several penalties that add up, and the penalty for the whole event can be very, very impressive," Brižs explained.
Linda's family has appealed against the police decisions.
Latvian Television was unable to find out the opinion of the driver of the speedboat, as he did not answer the phone.
