We were advised of a sunken boat in Lafourche by LPSO.  The boat was marked with GPS coordinates N29 19 555 and W90 11 842 and rested upright but sunken in approximately 1 1/2 feet of water. The vessel was identified as a 14 ft Polar Kraft and belonging to Injured victim.  The vessel was equipped with a tiller steer 25 hp Mercury engine.  Examination of the engine showed the cover to be off, mud on the upper parts of the exposed engine, the engine to be in gear, and the kill switch was in the "run" postion with no lanyard attached.  The vessel appeared to have seen much use and we were unable to discern a fresh collision point, although there was a significant dent mid ship on the  underside of the vessel port side. (A later examination showed an approximately 8" long by 1/8" wide gash in the hull that had been repaired at one time but was now reopened). A body was recovered and later Identified as Operator.  The deceased had a boat plug in his pocket and the vessel did not have a plug in place. I was given an unmarked pill bottle that had been discovered in the debris by LPSO and contained a large quantity of pills (79). I was able to make a possible match for the pills based on their stamp "Watson 540". Pill imprint WATSON 540 has been identified as Acetaminophen and hydrocodone bitartrate 500 mg/10mg. Injured victim was rescued from the water near the accident and brought to Our lady of the Sea Hospital. We met with Injured victim and had the hospital do a blood sample kit (At the time we were unsure of who the operator was and we were in the process of reconstructing the events of the accident. ) After advising the subject of his rights we got a preliminary verbal statement from him. 

He claimed that he and Operator decided to go night fishing the previous night and left off boat launch around 7:30 to 8:00PM.  While trying to find an area to fish they struck an oyster reef and broke the seal on the fiberglass patch on the hull.  He claimed that they pulled the plug of the boat to drain the water while underway and through some misfortune were unable to keep the boat from sinking. Injured victim stated that the vessel sank upright and they abandoned it in favor of walking back to town through the marsh.  I asked Injured victim about possible contributing factors and he stated that the night was clear with a mostly full moon and the water was calm.  he stated that after walking some distance the two of them got separated he decided to try to stay warm until daylight. Given the information from Injured victim, it is at this point that it appears as though Operator returned to the vessel and attempted to try to get in the vessel afloat and operational. this would explain the removed engine cover. It does not provide answers to what events lead to Operator's death.  No PFDs were used nor was a safety lanyard available or used even thought the engine was capable.
Golden                        