RedactedNarrative: At 1353 hours on 7/10/21, KDFWR Officers and Lyon County S&R responded to a report of an unmanned vessel going around in circles near Davenport Bay on Lake Barkley. Upon arrival, the units deployed ropes and cargo nets in front of vessel and after close to 2 hours the vessel was stopped. The operator was reported to have been ejected and witnesses stated they saw the vessel's lower unit run over the operator. The witnesses state that the person never resurfaced. FW Officers secured the vessel and towed to Hub's Marina for documentation and then turned over to family. Sgt. with KDFWR made notification to family. As of 1727 this evening, rescue and FW Officers are continuing to search for the body. No other persons were reported to have been in the boat. The vessel was a 24' Checkmate.  
  ***Narrative From Initial Report on 7/10/21***
  
  Officers with KDFWR were only able to obtain mostly verbal statements as witnesses left the area before officers could locate and meet with them at the scene. The reasons for this were two-fold. For almost two hours, officers were  attempting to stop the out of control vessel which had created a substantial threat to pubic safety. During this time frame a severe thunderstorm moved into the area forcing most individuals off of the lake making any attempt to track them down mostly unsuccessful. However, Lyon County Emergency Management Director was on scene and spoke directly with multiple eye-witnesses who confirmed to first responders their account of what had happened. This occurred as officers were still attempting to secure the out of control vessel. 
  
  According to these statements and 1 video clip that was obtained by officers, Victim was thrown from his vessel and hit by his own boat. According to witnesses, Victim idled out of congested waters in Davenport Bay. As soon as he made it past the boats towards the mouth of the bay, Victim increased throttle significantly and began a hard left turn into what was described as "large waves". According to statements, this was when Victim was thrown from his boat and was subsequently hit by it as it circled back to him. Officers were able to get the boat stopped only after significant time, effort and risk as the vessel collided with a vertical rock bank on the opposite side of the lake allowing the tangled rope to finally bind the propeller and stall the engine. 
  
  Upon investigation of the vessel, officers observed the throttle lever position to be approximately 3/4 open in forward gear and the kill switch to be toggled in the "RUN" position but without any lanyard attached to the toggle switch.  Recovery efforts went on unsuccessfully into darkness while attempting to use Side-Scan & Down-Scan Sonar to locate the body of Victim. 
  
  On July 11, 2021 at approximately 11:20 AM, Victim's body was located in roughly 9' of water and then retrieved by divers with Lyon County Emergency Management. The victim's intestines had floated to the surface during the overnight hours allowing for a confirmed location. Victim had been hit by the vessel & propeller as pictures indicate and what was indicated by statements. The cause of death will be known after the autopsy by the coroner.  
  
  
  