Upon arrival at the scene, I met with local deputies who advised they had one person on the shore that they believed was involved in the accident and were looking for one person they believed was still in the water.  Deputies advised when they arrived the passenger was on shore yelling for the operator which lead them to believe there was a person in the water.  Passenger stated he was walking by when he heard the accident and thought it may be his friend.  Passenger was very uncooperative and had a strong odor of intoxicants.  Deputies then brought the wife of the operator to the scene and I asked if he carried a cell phone and she replied "yes".  The wife then called the operator and he answered.  She tried to persuade him to return to the scene to which he stated he would not because he knew that Law Enforcement officers were there.  The wife went and got V1's owner.  He advised V1 was taken without his knowledge but he did not want to press charges.  The wife further stated she had again spoken with her husband (operator) and he stated he was at Dockers Bar and Grill.  We responded to Dockers and searched the premises but were not able to locate the operator.  While at Dockers wife received several calls from her husband (operator) saying he was angry with her for bringing the police to the location.  While the deputies continued to search for the operator, I went to the S.O. to interview the passenger.  He denied any knowledge of the accident but evidence on his clothing (grass stains) suggested he had been face down in a grassy area.  He finally admitted to being in V1 earlier but not at the time of the accident.  I then learned that deputies had located the operator walking down the street and had taken him into custody.  Upon his arrival at the S.O. I noticed he was glassy eyed, slurring his speech and had a strong odor of intoxicants about him.  Operator stated he was operating V1 with Passenger and he hit a wall.  He refused to answer any more questions as to the particulars of the accident and invoked his right to a lawyer.

Investigation of the scene showed the following:  At approximately 2320 V1 was traveling north on Lake Hamilton in an area just east of Hot Springs Creek.  V1 approached a sea wall and just before impact the operator turned to the starboard and impacted a wooden swim dock.  This action caused ramping of V1 and caused the port stern to impact the sea wall; it is believed at this time both occupants were ejected into the lawn area.  This action redirected V1 and caused it to travel east along the top of the sea wall for approximately 25ft before sliding back into the lake causing damage to the concrete and stone of the wall.

Operator was charged with Negligent Operation, Leaving the scene of an accident, Fleeing, and Public Intox.
Passenger was charged with Interfering with an Investigation and Public Intox.
HOT SPRINGS                   