2 grandchildren died in a Barnegat Bay boat crash. Now their grandfather is charged

✅A Berkeley grandfather faces two vehicular homicide charges

✅Court documents say Stephen Schneider was impaired by alcohol when his boat struck a channel marker

✅Their deaths were among four fatal incidents in Ocean County waters this summer

BERKELEY TOWNSHIP — The grandfather who police say drove a motorboat into a channel marker in Barnegat Bay in July was charged Friday with the deaths of his grandchildren.

Stephen Schneider, 63, of the Bayville section of Berkeley was "impaired by alcohol" when he hit Intracoastal Waterway Marker #39 while driving a 28-foot Tidewater Center Console on July 19, according to court documents.

His grandchildren Mya Bella Golabek, 9, and Sigmund "Siggy" Paul Golabek, 7, were killed in the crash. His wife Laurie Schneider, 64, was also on board the boat.

The impact ejected the children from the boat, according to State Police. The adults got the children out of the water and got them to shore. They were taken to a hospital where they died.

NJ State Police Trooper Christopher Postorino said Stephen Schneider voluntarily surrendered on Friday and was charged with two counts of reckless vessel homicide/death by vessel, a second-degree charge, operating a vessel under the influence and reckless operation of a vessel

ALSO READ: Police: Barnegat Bay's channel markers aren't the problem

Stephen Schneider

Four lives lost this summer

Four people have lost their lives in the water off Ocean County this summer.

Gunnar Pearson, 28, of Barnegat, died after State Police said the boat he was riding in slammed into a day marker around 5:45 p.m. on May 25. Pearson and his girlfriend were thrown into the water. He was a member of the New Jersey National Guard and a graduate of Barnegat High School.

In a crash on July 25, a 32-foot Boston Whaler carrying five people struck a channel marker in the bay. Michael T. Bereheiko, 26, of Green Brook, was pronounced dead at a hospital, State Police said.

State Police are leading the investigation.

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