Three juveniles were bow fishing on Lake Bruin in Tensas Parish.  They were traveling between piers and were moving too fast in the dark.  They came upon a boat house that had an extended walkway that the operator didn't see.  The boat struck the pier tipped on its side.  The boat again struck the pier at the operator's station.  The operator's right arm was jammed into a 2x8 piece of wood.  The operator suffered a severe laceration to this right arm.  The passenger in the left seat was not injured. The passenger that was sitting on the rod box was thrown into the floor of the vessel and suffered a minor abrasion to his left knee and a minor laceration to his left elbow.  The uninjured passenger then operated the vessel back to his camp.  EMS was contacted and the injured juveniles were transported to the emergency room. I was later contacted by the Tensas Parish Sheriff's Department. I traveled to Tallulah Louisana and met with juvenile with the most minor injuries.  With his mother's consent I acquired a written statement on his recollection of the incident.  I was unable to get a statement at this from the primary operator due to the fact that he was on medication for the injuries that he had suffered. On June 23, 2011, I again made contact with the uninjured juvenile and he showed me where the incident had occurred.  I took several pictures of the damage to the vessel and the pier.  The vessel that was used was a 17" inch Bass Tracker equipped with a steering wheel and propelled by a 50 hp Mercury outboard engine. It was also found that the juveniles were not wearing PFD's at the time of the incident.

After investigating the accident and reviewing the statement received it was found that operator was at fault.  The primary cause 1) was that they were traveling at night and had restricted vision, the secondary cause 2) was that operator was travelling at excessive speeds that prohibited him from making evasive manuevers to avoid a collision, and the tertiary cause 3) was that of operator inexperience.

St. Joseph                    