the operator of vessel 1 was attempting to maneuver her vessel into her slip at the end of the cove at the lake norman motel when she gave it too much throttle and came into the slip at an angle ramping up onto the small dock which was perpendicular to the shoreline onto the main dock which was parallel to the shoreline.  Upon contact with the main dock, her boat was turned perpendicular to her boat slip and lodged between the main dock and vessel 2.  The impact completely broke off the first small dock, damaged the wood only slightly on the main dock, broke the corner support beam on the roof of the dock to the boat slips, also breaking the truss support beams on the top just under the roof, as well as breaking a small plastic storage unit that was on the corner and shattering it into pieces.  Vessel 1 sustained major hull scratches and possibly punctures, vessel 2 sustained major hull scratches both from the impact of vessel 1, as well as being pushed into the dock on its port side and from the small dock being broken into its starboard side.  
The operator of vessel 1 was obviously impaired when i arrived.  I could smell a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her breath and she was slurring her speech to the point i could barely understand her.  I administered the entire seated battery of standardized field sobriety testing and found her to be intoxicated.  I placed her under arrest and upon administering the intox ec/r ii, she submitted one breath sample which registered .19 and then refused to submit any further samples.  The magistrate found probable cause and she was admitted to the newton detention facility.  I charged her with operating under the influence of am impairing substance as well as with careless and reckless operation of her vessel.  The operator of vessel 1 also admitted she was not very experienced with docking her vessel and was "practicing" under the direction of a passenger who was also very obviously intoxicated.  The main causes of the incident in my opinion were operator inexperience and intoxication of the operator.
TERRELL