On Saturday, July 6, 2013, at approximately 06:00 pm, I received a phone call from Decatur 911 in reference to a boating incident on Lake Seminole.  The dispatcher informed me that a girl’s fingers on one of her hands and been amputated, and she was heading to a Tallahassee Fl. Hospital.  The dispatcher also informed me the vessel that was involved in the incident was located across from the sandbar, about two miles south of Bainbridge.  I immediately dispatched Ranger to interview the victim at the hospital in Tallassee, and I launched a patrol vessel and responded to the scene.  When I arrived at the location by vessel, I met up with the operator of the vessel.  Operator was removing a blue rope from inside the jet drive engine as I arrived.  Operator informed me that he, his brother, and Victim were about to go knee boarding on the lake.  Operator stated that while the boat was running in neutral, the rope was about to get caught in the jet drive motor, and asked Victim to remove the rope from the water.  As she was removing the rope from the water it was sucked up in the motor with the rope twisted around her thumb and ring finger on her right hand.  As the rope tightened it amputated the top joint on her right ring finger and almost removed her right thumb. Operator flagged down a passing vessel and asked for transportation to the boat basin, where EMS was standing by for medical assistance.  Ranger interviewed Victim and operator’s brother  at the hospital in Tallahassee and both provided written statements of the incident.  When I interviewed Operator, he provided a written statement on the incident.  No violations were detected in this incident.
BAINBRIDGE