Pre Accident. 

Based on interviews and sheriff dispatch event line , the admitted operator of the vessel was transporting three other passengers on board back to Pine Arm Marina. They all left from aboard a houseboat within Frances Canyon Arm of Navajo Lake late on a fairly dark night with low visibility due to clouds. 

Two of the passengers on board had been drinking prior to going on board the vessel. There was knowledge of hazards in the canyon so one passenger was in the bow with a flashlight looking for hazards . The passenger at the bow with the flashlight was one of the passengers who had been drinking, and according to witnesses was intoxicated, but was heard to yell out by the other passenger before the vessel hit the rocks. Operator at the helm was operating at about 12 mph speed estimated at the time of impact. On the port side across from the operator was the other passenger who had been drinking. Behind the operator allegedly was seated the remaining passenger, placing by the operators recollection, that passenger in the rear starboard quarter seat. 

The vessel had no depth finder showing in the photos taken and the buoy system on the lake had Informational Regulatory Buoy for Frances at Channel Entrance and a line of center of Channel Markers going up the canyon. A Regulatory Hazard collared buoy was also in place off the south point of the dry land spit. 

Accident. 

A reporting party heard but did not report seeing the impact of the vessel on the rocks. Upon impact at the bow, photos taken after the accident show that the vessel was thrown up out of the water and mostly onto the shore. The reported impact caused the passenger in front with the flashlight to be ejected out of the front of the boat, the body landing on the rocks forward of the boat being the reason for injuries. The other passenger on the port side across from the operator reported injuries a day later allegedly by impacting their body with the boat at the time of this accident. The operator and the passenger at the stern starboard quarter seat were uninjured. 

Post Accident 

The reporting party went and offered assistance. Assistance was refused. The reporting party then called 911 despite being told by the parties involved that they did not want the police notified. Park Rangers responding to the incident from Pine Marina came across a vessel which was transporting from the scene those involved in the accident. It is unknown as to how this vessel operator learned of the accident (Follow up conversation to Witness number 2 by this report was by phone but he did not want to speak about the incident). Officers when questioning those on board the transporting vessel precisely who was involved with the accident were told according by the admitted operator, that herself and two others , were all those involved with the accident on board. 

A non - injured passenger was transferred at this time to the patrol boat. Both the patrol boat and transporting vessel were met by EMTs back at the Pine Marina. The passenger that was thrown from the vessel in the accident was back boarded and transferred by ambulance to the hospital. The admitted operator showed no signs of intoxication and submitted to a field sobriety test which showed no clues. When questioned again as to who was aboard, the admitted operator stated herself and two others for a total of 3 on board. When the passenger that was not transported to the hospital responded to the same question she stated the alleged operator, herself and two others for a total of 4 on board. An interview of the reporting party the day after the incident gave the total on board as 4 with two females and two males. Passenger on board during the accident and seated across from the operator on the port side reported in a follow up, injuries. 

A citation was issued to the alleged operator for failure to report, by the operator or owner of the vessel, the accident to law enforcement.
Navajo Dam