On June 5th, at approximately 0335 hour, a 2006 Proline 21’ dual console fiberglass vessel operated along with the three (3) other passengers departed Oak harbor traveling towards the twin spans at mid throttle when the lake began to get rough. The operator spassengerd he pulled back on the throttle and trimmed the bow up to address the waves but it was progressively getting worse so he decided it was too rough to continue and began making a slow turn to port approximately 100 yards west northwest of the old I-10 bridge around coordinates N 30 12.310’/ W 089 48.078’. While making the port turn, the starboard passenger attempted to stand up and upon doing so the vessel took a side sea which caused him to fall overboard. The occupants of the vessel spassengerd after Passenger fell overboard they saw his head two times before it submerged and all attempts to locate and rescue him failed. The aft port passenger spassengerd that just prior to the incident Passenger told him he was going to try and stand up to see if he could “ride the waves”, and after doing so, Passenger who was holding the starboard stern line fell overboard, after which Passenger2 said he went to the starboard gunwale and witnessed Passenger holding the stern line as he was being pulled by the vessel, before it pulled from his hands. Passenger2  immediately yelled to the vessels operator that subject had fallen overboard and Operator stopped the vessel and turned back around in an attempt to rescue Passenger. The female passenger who was sitting amidships on the port side of the vessel concurred with the above depiction of the incident given by both Operator and passenger2. For further see the attached passenger statements. At approximately 1355 hrs, the body of Passenger was recovered by deputies of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s SOD Division near the location where he fell overboard at coordinates N 30 12.379’/W 089 47.998’. The body was remanded to the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s office for autopsy. No charges have been filed against the vessel’s operator and foul play is not suspected in this incident. The vessel was equipped with all required safety equipment/ PFD’s. After a thorough investigation, neither alcohol nor drugs were found to be a contributing factor in this incident. No further information concerning the above incident is to follow at this time.
SLIDELL                       