PORTLAND (AP) – A Portland man has been charged with causing the death of his passenger on a Jet-Ski type vehicle last summer on Little Sebago Lake.

A Cumberland County Grand Jury indicted Craig Fowler, 34, for manslaughter, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and aggravated operating under the influence in the death of Cheryl Potochniak.

Potochniak, 34, of North Conway, N.H., was riding on a personal watercraft operated by Fowler that collided July 31 with a boat full of people returning from a fishing trip.

Fowler, who was arrested and released after posting $200,000 in property bail, is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Superior Court.

Fowler was shocked to be charged with a crime for “a terrible, terrible accident,” said his lawyer, Christian Foster. “He was blown away by the event, and now he’s even more blown away by the indictment,” Foster said.

The Maine Warden Service said Fowler was operating a personal watercraft at about 11 p.m. on July 31, a moonlit night. It is illegal to use that type of vehicle between sunset and sunrise because it is not equipped with lights, said Warden Jason Luce.

According to reports at the time of the event, an off-duty Portland police officer who was a trained emergency medical technician was one of the passengers on the boat. All of the boat’s passengers and its operator were questioned and none has been charged with any wrongdoing.

Foster has not yet seen the police reports of the incident, but suggested that the actions of the boat should also be investigated. He said the boat hit Fowler, not the other way around.