RedactedNarrative: On 09/26/2015 at 1530 hours, the Maryland Natural Resources Police was asked to respond to a vessel accident resulting in personal injury on Deep Creek Lake. Sgt. and Officer responded to the scene and assisted Bill's Marine with removing the vessel from the water while the operator was transported to Garrett Memorial Hospital. The additional six occupants of the vessel were unharmed and safely off the vessel. I, OFC., responded to Garrett Memorial Hospital to check on the welfare and status of the vessel operator. The operator was alert and responsive when I met him in the Emergency ward. Operator said he struck the left side of his face against the vessel windshield above the control station when the accident occurred. Operator was subsequently treated and released with a facial abrasion later that same evening.
  
  When questioned on the accident, Operator provided the following timeline of events and his explanation of the accident. Operator is a part-time resident of Garrett County, owning a home on the northern end of Deep Creek Lake with water access. He purchased a Ski Nautique ski boat for waterskiing and wakesurfing activities. Operator said he is an experienced boater and very familiar with Deep Creek Lake. In the early afternoon of 09/26/15, Operator was operating his vessel with five other persons on board and one person wakesurfing behind the boat. Operator rounded stump point and continued in a northerly direction towards the open water in front of the dam. As he progressed through the channel he came to an area off Skippers Point on the lake. This particular point is heavily laden with large tree stumps and has very shallow water, going from 42 feet to 2.5 feet in a matter of 15 feet across the water surface. The lake was also lowered for preparation of oncoming winter ice/snowfall, with the water level about two feet lower than normal. At this level, the stumps were very visible off the point. Because of these dangers, Skipper's point is marked with three "Danger" buoys, set by the Deep Creek Lake Management office. They are set parallel to the shoreline, following the curve of stump point to include as many hazards as possible. Operator said he was towing a wakesurfer behind his vessel, approximately 30 feet to the outside of these Danger buoys. At this distance, Operator would have been towing his wakesurfer 218 feet off the shoreline, but only 76 feet from the nearest visible stump. When towing a skier/tuber/surfer, the vessel operator must stay 100 feet away from any fixed or floating object, including the stump, a dock, another vessel, a swimmer, etc. Operator had passed the first Danger buoy on his port side, rounding the point towards the second Danger buoy when the vessel abruptly came to a stop with a loud bang and abrupt forward momentum. Operator said they were traveling approximately 11 knots, keeping their speed low to assist the trailing wakesurfer; traveling at these lower speeds would force Operator's bow further in the air and his stern lower into the water, drafting deeper than the vessel would normally on a level plane. This deeper stern draft would also put the propeller and outdrive in a lower position to more easily strike any submerged object around Skipper's Point. 
   
  Operator said the vessel immediately went dead in the water and two passengers got into the water to look for what the vessel hit. The two passengers were able to stand on stumps with their bodies out of the water in the immediate area outside of the vessel. When the vessel was removed from the water there was also wood shavings and chips stuck into the engine housing and outdrive. Operator called Bill's Marine for assistance, and the vessel and occupants were safety transported to shore where the vessel was removed and Operator was taken to the hospital.
  
  In meeting with Bill's marine, they advised the ski boat had suffered major structural damage due to the force of impact at which the propeller shaft hit the submerge