Due to high water and thick vegetation the boating accident was hard to access. Located on the bank were operator and unconscious casualty victim passenger with the vessel located a considerable distance into the trees. Officer assessed casualty victims  injuries and contacted dispatch to send stat flight.  The causalty victim was placed on a back board with a neck collar and  transported to the waiting state care flight and was taken to the hospital where casualty victim  later died. 

Operator stated he had turned to avoid debris in the water and the steering locked on the vessel.  Operator unable to steer the vessel and crashed into the trees. Operator had tried for approximately one and a half hours  to signal for help, but becuase of the remoteness of the area there was not much boat traffic in the area.  Operator eventually flagged down a rental pontoon boat which called the local marina which contacted dispatch. Officer smelled alcohol at the scene and asked operator how much he had drank that day, operator stated he had not drank any alcohol but deceased victim was drunk when operator picked her up at the gas station that morning. Officer located a two liter of coke that operator said he had been drinking and no alcohol was detected. Operator appeared not to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Operator was field tested with a pbt which showed .000. 

Based on the observations of the damage it appears that when the vessel impacted the third tree, the vessel rolled sharply to the right causing casualty victim to be ejected across the vessel and ending up on the right side of the path traveled. Operator stated that casualty victim was sitting on the port side of the vessel. Based on the facts the vessel would have been traveling 33.1 mph. It is the opinion of the officer that the vessel was being operated in an excessive rate of speed given the environmental conditions as well as the experience level of the vessel operator. Operator failed to take all actions available to operator to avoid the accident or at the very least, reduce the speed of the vessel prior to impact. By operators own words he did not attempt to reverse the thrust of the jet drives. Pfd's where not being worn or used. Alcohol was not a contributing factor for the operator but the deceased victim was under the influence.

TAYLORSVILLE                  