On 5/31/10, at approximately 1:30am, i was notified of a boating accident by dispatch that had occurred on the cape fear river.  The passengers on board were transported to new hanover regional medical center.  Operator stated that he left his house in holden beach and headed towards wilmington when he struck an unknown object on the river.  He stated that they had been using a spotlight to aid them in navigating the river and had been travelling at approximately 10-20 mph.  He did not see the object before striking it.  Operator stated he did not remember anything from the time he struck the object until he was discharged out of the hospital.  

Occupant stated that they left operator's house on holden beach at approximately 10:30pm and headed towards operator's other residence in wilmington (inlet watch) to dock the boat.  Occupant stated that they had missed the snow's cut turn off by approximately 5-6 miles and that they then decided to go to wimington rather than operator's residence.  Occupant said that they struck an unknown object (traveling approximately 20-25 mph) in the river approximately 3-4 miles south of cape fear memorial bridge.  After striking the object, both occupant and operator were thrown down on the deck of the boat, and occupant believed that operator was temporarily knocked unconscious.  Occupant said he drug operator towards the back of the boat and them attempted to start one of the engines.  After several attempts, he got the left engine started and drove the boat to a dock just north of the castle street boat ramp.  While driving the boat to the dock, occupant called a friend who then called 911.  Investigation revealed that operator and occupant struck bouy 61 located directly across from the state port.  The buoy has a green light that stays lit at night and has green reflective material on all sides.  The buoy is approximately 5 ft in diameter and approximately 4 ft tall, and it is the only buoy within a 1 mile stretch.  Operator had a strong odor of alcohol about his person and watery/bloodshot eyes.  I also had operator perform an hgn test, during which six clues were observed.  Occupant stated that operator had consumed four 12oz beers while on the boat.  Operator refused to submit to a chemical test of his blood.  A search warrant was taken out, and a sample of his blood was collected and sent to the sbi lab for testing.  Operator was charged with careless/reckless boat operation and boating while impaired.  Operator and occupant both sustained lacerations to their faces as a result of the accident.
WILMINGTON                    