RedactedNarrative: On Saturday, April 19th, 2014 at around 0620 Operator1 was operating his Venture boat with a 150 h/p Mercury (Vessel 1) from Devil''s Step Boat Ramp towards the Lakeview Boat Ramp on Tim''s Ford Lake for a crappie tournament blast off. Operator2 was in a bass tournament that was blasting off from Devil''s Step Boat Ramp about that same time and was operating a 21'' Nitro boat with a 225 h/p Mercury (Vessel 2). As Operator1 (Vessel 1) was heading down the channel and making the turn at Fanning Bend between the point and Mud Island, Operator2 (Vessel 2) caught up and started the same turn inside of Operator1'' turn. Operator2 stated that he did not realize that Operator1 was making the turn but instead thought that he was going around the island. Operator2 (Vessel 2) stated that the next time he noticed Operator1'' boat, (Vessel 1), was directly in front of him and he had to cut his vessel hard to the left to avoid running over vessel 1. Vessel 2 struck Vessel 1 on the port side about 3 feet forward of the transom. Vessel 2 impacted Vessel 1 with its starboard side just forward of the transom. Vessel 1 sustained around $3000 worth of damage to its port side. Vessel 2 sustained very little visible damage, only a couple of small gouges and some light stress fractures in the clearcoat. 
  
  After talking to the DA about charges, we decided to charge Operator2 (Operator of Vessel 2) with failure to report a boating accident because he did not give his information to the other operator after the accident and did not report it to the agency until after I called his son about the accident because the vessel was registered in his sons name. He was also checked by two of our officers later that afternoon on the day of the accident and failed to mention the accident to the officers. We also charged him with Violation of Vessel Registration Law because the vessel that he was operating, and that he had bought from his son, had an expired registration and had never been registered in his name. The Judge found Operator2 guilty of Failing to Report the Boating Accident and Dismissed the Registration Charge upon compliance.