Operator, his wife, and their five children had been staying on a houseboat at Lone Mountain Boat Dock since May 31, 2012.  On June 11, 2012, the family was packing their belongings preparing to go home.  Operator left the houseboat around 7:30 pm to take the four youngest children and some of the belongings from the houseboat to Lone Mountain Dock.  Operator’s wife stated Operator was gone for about two hours and she was beginning to get worried.  When Operator returned to the houseboat Operator’s wife stated he had been drinking and they began to argue about his drinking.  

Operator’s wife stated the entire family boarded the pontoon and Operator began driving extremely fast towards Lone Mountain Dock.  Operator’s wife stated she kept telling him to slow down but Operator refused and acted as if he was going to jump out of the vessel.  As the pontoon got close to Lone Mountain Dock Operator turned the vessel around and started heading away from the dock.  Operator’s wife stated she and Operator continued to argue and Operator hit her in the face knocking her unconscious.  When she came to, Operator’s wife stated Operator was on top of his step-daughter and she pulled him off of her at which time Operator struck her in the face again.  

Stepdaughter stated they were all screaming for Operator to go back to the dock.  Operator’s wife stated Operator said, " I''ll show all of them" and got out from behind the steering wheel and jumped out of the vessel.  Operator’s wife stated she threw Operator''s lifejacket out because she knew he was not a good swimmer, but the boat was going too fast and they had already gone too far past him.  Operator’s wife stated they were all too scared to jump in for fear of him trying to drown one of them.  During the panic of Operator jumping over board, the kill switch on the pontoon was pulled out and Operator’s wife did not know how to restart the vessel.  

Subject and family were on a houseboat nearby and heard the kids screaming for help.  When Subject got to the scene, stepdaughter told him what had happened and showed Subject where Operator had jumped in.  Subject found Operator floating face down close to the area stepdaughter had pointed out.  Subject is CPR certified through his work and began CPR on operator as soon as he was pulled from the water.  Operator was transported to Lone Mountain Dock where Claiborne EMS was waiting.  He passed away.

TAZEWELL                      