On august 22, 2011, at approximately 10:45am, an employee of the owner of 3 point place, made a 911 call to report a boating accident adjacent to the residence.  Employee stated that she and subject2were on the second floor of a house that they were cleaning in wrightsville beach when they heard a loud crashing sound and felt a jolt.  Employee and subject2 ran outside onto the second floor balcony and observed a center console boat against the bulkhead.  Employee stated that the boat appeared to be unoccupied at the time.  The ladies then ran downstairs and observed an older white male floating face up in the water in between a badly damaged boat and the bulkhead.  At that point, employee called 911 to report the boating accident.
  at approximately the same time, subject3 was docking a boat at marine max when he observed an 18 ft center console boat with a blue biminy top traveling east in mott's channel.  Subject3 stated that the boat appeared to be in a hurry, so subject3 pulled to the side to allow the boat to pass.  As the boat passed by, subject3 observed what appeared to be blood on the left side of the boat and an older white male driving the boat in clothes that also appeared to be bloody.  Subject3 stated that as the boat passed, it began veering off into the marsh grass on the south side of the channel, but then swerved back into the channel.  Subject3 notified the wrightsville beach coast guard of what he observed.  He stated that he watched the boat until it went out of his sight.
   investigation revealed that subject3 had observed the same center console boat that ended up striking the bulkhead in motts channel.  The wrightsville beach coast guard responded to the 911 call placed by employee and arrived on scene to find the victim, operator, floating in the water.  They retrieved the victim from the water and transported him to the city municipal dock for medical response.  The victim was later pronounced dead.
   investigation revealed that operator had struck a bulkhead on the north side of motts channel.  It appeared that the boat had struck the bulkhjead straight on and at a high rate of speed, as the throttle was pushed completely forward and the motor was in the straight position.  The victim's wife stated that operator was an experienced boat operator.  wife also stated that operator had a history of passing out and that he was taking several different types of medications for medical reasons.  It appeared that operator had injured himself prior to getting into his boat the day of the accident.  A blood trail was found by the wrightsville beach police department going from operator's work shack sitting behind his house to the dock where the boat had been tied off.  The extent of his injuries prior to getting into the boat is unknown.  The autopsy report has not been received to specify the cause of death.  The boat suffered major damage to the entire bow.


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Cause of death is unknown at this time.
The vessel suffered extensive damage to the bow, however, it was not specified if it was a total loss.

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH            