The brother of 64-year-old Gary Poltash, one of two victims of a fatal boat crash involving Kevin O’Leary and his wife Linda O’Leary on Lake Joseph in Ontario, Canada over the weekend, is breaking his silence. In a statement to the Toronto Sun, Larry Poltash claimed that should the Shark Tank star or his wife be found guilty of any wrongdoing, “they’ve got to do the time.”
Poltash, who had recently retired to Belleair Beach, a community near Clearwater, Florida, was killed in the Saturday, Aug. 24 collision, which also took the life of 48-year-old Susanne Brito, a mother of three. He leaves behind an adult son and daughter, whom Larry described as “absolutely beautiful kids.”
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Larry, who said he’s searching for answers, added that he takes comfort in the knowledge that Poltash died immediately when O’Leary’s vessel, driven by Linda, went over the bow of the boat, striking Poltash. He said that a medical doctor was driving the 13-vessel boat his brother was on and is “cool, calm and collected” and that “he does not panic.”
Still, Larry is looking for justice. Although he said that he hopes the deadly collision was just an accident and that nobody aboard O’Leary’s boat is guilty of any wrongdoing, if investigators do find that wrongdoing is involved, “they’ve got to do time.”
Addressing the fatal collision, O’Leary has claimed the other boat involved “had no navigation lights on” at the time of the 11:30 p.m. crash and “fled the scene of the accident.” Those aboard the second vessel have given contradicting claims. The Shark Tank star, known as Mr. Wonderful, alleges that there is video footage that confirm his statements and will exonerate both himself and his wife.
Confirming the collision in a statement to PEOPLE, a spokesperson for the Ontario Provincial Police added that an investigation is ongoing.
“We can confirm that a collision occurred on Saturday evening at approximately 11:30 p.m. involving two boats on Lake Joseph,” the spokesperson said. “No charges have been made in this matter. The investigation is ongoing with our criminal investigations branch. It resulted in two fatalities. One died at the scene and the other died yesterday after succumbing on Tuesday night to her injuries, which were critical.”
In addition to the deaths of Poltash and Brito, three other people were injured in the crash. All three, two of whom were aboard the boat Poltash was on, were treated and later released from the hospital.
