By CRISTINE MEIXNER

Editor

LAKE PLEASANT - District Attorney Marsha King Purdue started putting witnesses on the stand today, Jan. 15, in the case of The People of the State of New York vs. Patrick Cunningham.

Hudson River Rafting Company Inc. owner Patrick J. Cunningham of North Creek is accused of endangering two whitewater rafting customers in August 2010, Robert Carson of Augusta, Ga. and his daughter Savannah Carson, 20, by sending them downriver in an inflatable kayak without a licensed guide. Both had to be rescued.

Purdue called Stephanie Leonard to the stand first. Leonard testified she has been the photographer for another rafting company, Whitewater Challengers, for 10 years. On Aug. 12, 2010 she was taking photos of rafters on the Indian River in the Town of Indian Lake for Whitewater Challengers when she captured images of the Carsons’ “duckie” hitting a raft and flipping over, ejecting the father and daughter.

The nine photos, all taken within a minute, were shown to the jury using a projector and screen.

They show the Carsons’ duckie running nose down into a raft, the ducky rolling over next to the raft, the duckie upside down with Robert Carson’s hand gripping it; and the Carsons’ heads in the water.