On 07/04/12 at 1950 Officers were inspecting a vessel on South Holston Lake in Sullivan County. We were approximately one-half of a mile below the Virginia line when another vessel approached us and said there was a boat accident at the Cut-Through.  Officer and I arrived in the area of the Cut-Through at approximately 1955. We observed a vessel, AL 3131 ES, that was positioned upside-down in the water with four individuals in the water around it. The vessel was a 13 foot 1994 Sea-Rayder.  The four individuals were trying to flip the boat back right-side up.  Officer and I attached a rope to the front of our patrol vessel. The rope was wrapped around the overturned vessel. We backed the patrol boat and turned the vessel back to its normal position. Two of the individuals in the water were aboard the vessel at the time the incident occurred. We began questioning those individuals on how this situation began.  The other individuals that were aboard the vessel at the time of the incident were on a pontoon boat that came by after the incident occurred.  There were 5 people on the vessel at the time of the incident. Officer and I began taking a statement from the driver of the vessel, and passenger. Officers arrived at the scene at about 2005. They took statements from passengers. The occupants of the vessel bailed water out of the boat with a bucked and towed it to Observation Knob boat ramp with a friends boat. Officers followed them to the ramp in their patrol boat. 

After reviewing statements from the occupants of the vessel AL 3131 ES, it appeared that Operator was operating the vessel down stream of the Cut-Through. The back hatch of the vessel was opened and water was discovered to be inside the engine compartment. Operator turned the vessel around and headed back through the Cut-Through, trying to return to the ramp at Observation Knob.  At the North end of the Cut-Through, a wake from another vessel came over the bow of Operator''s vessel. The bow of the vessel stayed under the water. Operator tried to reverse out of the water but did not succeed. Two people jumped out of the vessel followed by another. Operator and one other person stayed on the vessel as it slowly capsized and eventually turned over. Operator and the other person stayed with the vessel until a passing boat stopped to give assistance and Officer and I arrived.

BRISTOL                       