On Friday, March 1, 2013, at approximately 0700, Operator launched his vessel from a private boat launch near the community of River Oaks along the St. John's river in the Osteen area. He headed South on the river, traveling at approximately 35mph.  The hoodie he had on in order to keep him warm (as it was very cold out that morning) started to blow off from a gust of wind. Operator took both hands off the wheel in order to catch his hoodie before it flew off.  When he did this, his vessel began to turn clockwise and ejected Operator out of the vessel. 

The vessel continued to spin out of control (full throttle) as Operator struggled to swim to shore. He was able to swim to the shoreline on the Seminole County side of the river. His vessel  collided with a dock multiple times, and eventually stopped forward movement when it ran into a boat slip on the Seminole County side of the river. Operator was able to get over to his vessel to turn off the motor.  At this point, he noticed he was bleeding from his right arm.  His vessel had approximately 10 inches of water in it. He checked the bilge and noticed it was not working so he began to bail the water out. After he bailed most of the water out, he waited to see if it would fill back up. It did not, so he started the vessel up and was able to get it back to the area where he launched, and loaded it onto the trailer. 

Operator was very cold at this point as the air temperature was around 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  He drove back to his residence where his son was able to help him get out of his wet clothes. His son noticed a gash on Operator's right arm and insisted that he go to the hospital. Operator called his insurance company to notify them of the accident, and then proceeded to Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford.  He received 30 stitches in his right elbow.  The doctors prescribed pain medication which made Operator very sick thru Sunday, March 3rd. On Monday, March 4th, Operator tried reporting the accident to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office at which point they directed him to contact the FWC. He then reported the accident to FWC dispatch Orlando on Tuesday, March 5, 2013.

It is important to note that on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, I met with Operator in order to conduct an investigation. We took my patrol vessel so Operator could show me the site where the collision occurred on the St. John's River.  He was able to identify the stretch of river where the collision occurred, however, he was unable to identify the specific dock that was hit by his vessel during the collision. I did not see any noticeable damage on any of the docks on the stretch of the river where Operator said the collision occurred.

See attached audio recorded statement for a more detailed narrative.;. It is unknown as to what cut his elbow, but Operator suspects it is most likely due to impact with his vessel during the course of him being ejected.
UNINCORPORATED