Priest Lake water skiing accident kills attorney

A local patent lawyer died Thursday after a water skiing accident near his family property on Huckleberry Bay at Priest Lake in Idaho.

Dan McGinnity, 43, was being pulled by a boat driven by family members when, at about 3:15 p.m., he ran into a dock. Friends and family who saw the accident said he wasn’t going very fast and was “just goofing around” near the dock when his ski went sideways and he fell forward.

“He was trying to splash his brothers,” said Jamie Breen, McGinnity’s brother-in-law and co-worker. “He had a big goofy grin on his face as he was about to douse everyone on the dock.”

McGinnity sustained injuries to his shoulder and head. Breen said McGinnity’s neighbor, who is a doctor, was on the dock when the accident occurred and started CPR before rescue personnel arrived. McGinnity was pronounced dead at the scene.

In his obituary that appeared in Tuesday’s Spokesman-Review , family described him as “brilliant yet humble, kind to the core” and “selfless.”