On, June 29, 2013, I, Texas Game Warden along with, Texas Game Warden were patrolling Buffalo Springs Lake.  At approximately 5:30 PM, I received a call from Buffalo Springs Lake Chief of Police that there had just been a boat accident by the dam.  Warden and I arrived to the location at approximately 5:35 PM.  I noticed a white and blue Bayliner boat grounded on the side of the dam directly across from the water intake tower.  The boat was approximately 10 yards from the edge of the water on the side of the dam.  When I made contact with the boat, there were still 2 individuals inside.  I asked if they were both hurt and if they needed medical attention.  One indicated that he had a scrape on his knee and on the bottom of his foot but did not need medical attention.  The other individual indicated that he was not hurt and did not need to be checked by paramedics.  I then asked the individual who was injured for his information.  

  I asked Operator if he knew what had happened to cause the wreck.  Operator said they were headed south east on the lake towards the dam.  He then tried to turn back to the east to turn away from the dam when nothing happened. He then pulled back on the throttle and looked down to see if there was something preventing the steering wheel from turning.  At that point the passenger, Occupant, leaned over in his seat, grabbed Operator pulling him to the ground, and braced himself against the dash just before impact on the dam. Upon investigation of the boat, I noticed the steering linkage was broken preventing Operator from being able to steer the boat.  When looking the boat over some more, I noticed the prop and skeg was damaged due to hitting the rocks when they made impact on the dam.   

I noticed a spilled cooler in the back of the boat full of beer.  I asked Operator if he had been drinking.  He admitted he had but I could not smell any alcohol on his breath.  I had Operator and Occupant exit the boat and helped them make their way to the top of the dam.  I had Operator wait 15 minutes to get his land legs back and get over being shaken up from the wreck.  I then performed SFST’s on Operator and found that he was not impaired. Buffalo Springs Lake Police Department had a wrecker on its way to lift the boat off the dam.  Buffalo Springs Lake Officer took Operator to the boat ramp on the other side of the lake to get his truck and boat trailer for the wrecker to put it on.  The boat was released to Operator.
Lubbock