RedactedNarrative: On June 26, 2021 at approximately 2300, myself and Sgt. 2 were patrolling Herrington Lake when we were flagged down by a pontoon boat being towed by another vessel. Upon contact the occupants stated they were struck by another vessel from the rear. They stated they were unsure of what to do, because the other vessel involved had fled the scene moments after the accident. We then escorted the vessels to Pandora Marina where we began our investigation of the boat accident.
  	The operator of vessel 1, V1 Operator, stated he and his passengers (V1 Passenger 1, V1 Passenger 2, and V1 Passenger 3) were enroute back to Pandora Marina when his pontoon was struck in the rear by another boat. V1 Operator stated that he heard the boat coming from behind and at the last second saw the boat from the glow of his anchor light before striking the rear of his vessel. Upon contact V1 Operator fell to the floor, cut the wheel to the left causing the other boat to fall off the starboard side of his pontoon. The damage sustained during the collision appears consistent with V1 Operator’s statement. During my interviews with V1 Operator and his passengers, all occupants stated that the operator of vessel 2 would not answer any of their questions and spoke few words. Once a separate pontoon came to render aide and make sure everyone was alright, the operator of vessel 2 drove off leaving the scene of the accident. A witness on the second pontoon, Witness 1, took a picture of the operator and his vessel before he was able to leave. All witnesses said the operator appeared to be drunk stating he was unsteady on his feet and had slurred speech. V1 Operator and his passengers all stated they did not see any navigation lights or anchor light on vessel 2 prior to the accident. They also stated the vessel had no navigation lights or anchor light while leaving the scene. 
  	Prior to being flagged down by V1 Operator, Sgt 2 and myself witnessed a runabout boat pass us in the no wake zone around Chimney Rock Marina. The boat passed us above idle speed and had no visible lights. We were assisting another vessel at the time we witnessed this. Once we finished assisting the boat, we tried to locate the vessel we had just observed. We spoke to a couple fishermen and they advised they had seen the same boat running with no lights. We were unable locate the vessel and were contacted by V1 Operator shortly after.  The description of the hit and run vessel matched the vessel we had just observed.
  On June 27th, 2021 I received a call from V2 Operator stating he was the operator the vessel involved in an accident on Herrington Lake on June 26th. He stated he saw the accident on the news, social media, and he did not know why people were making him out to be a bad guy. He also wanted to tell his side of the story. I set up an interview with V2 Operator on June 30th, 2021 where he stated he was on Herrington Lake on the evening of June 26, 2021 and was involved in an accident with a pontoon boat. He stated he was operating the vessel and was the only person on board that evening. V2 Operator said during our interview that the pontoon had cut in front of him while he was trying to get back to Pandora Marina. He stated he did not see the pontoon boat until it was too late, because the pontoon did not have any lights on. V2 Operator did however state that his navigation and anchor lights were not on as well. V2 Operator had said that he thought he hit the pontoon on its starboard side towards the rear of the pontoon. He also said that it happened so fast and he was unsure of the damages to his boat. V2 Operator stated a woman on vessel 1 said “we are so sorry” and a guy on vessel 1 asked if he was going to be ok. He replied “I’ll be fine, just bleeding bad and need to get back to the dock”. He stated nothing else was said so he left the scene to make sure his boat was not going to sink and to clean up the wound he sustained to his forehead during the accident. V2 Operator said he felt bad for what happened and he would have never left the boat there had he known anything was wrong with it. During my interview with V2 Operator he stated he thought the accident happened around 9pm close to the no wake zone leading into Sunset marina. This information was not consistent with the statements from Vessel 1 and the witnesses statements. V2 Operator said he had not consumed any alcohol that night while he was on the lake and operating his boat.  
  	On June 30th, 2021 after my interview with V2 Operator, I made contact with Witness 2 of Evans Fiberglass Repair. Witness 2 stated that V2 Operator had called him on June 28th, 2021 to get an estimate for the damage done to his boat from the accident that took place on Herrington Lake on June 26, 2021. Witness 2 had said to me he asked V2 Operator if he got the information for the pontoon that had hit him. V2 Operator said to Witness 2 he had been drinking so they parted ways and he was going to pay for the repairs himself. Witness 2 then said he was on Facebook later that evening when he saw a post about a hit and run accident on Herrington Lake and saw the picture taken of the suspected run vessel. He stated after seeing that picture he was almost certain it was V2 Operator’s boat. The next morning drove by V2 Operator’s home and verified that the vessels were a match. 
  	On July 1, 2021 I received a call from V1 Operator. He had told me one of his passengers, Passenger 3, was going to her primary care physician to get checked out since she was still having pain from the evening of the accident. I contacted Passenger 3 that same day and she had stated she went to IU Health Physicians to get x-rays done. On July 8th, 2021 she sent me her exam report which states she had sustained minimally displaced fractures of the anterior left seventh and eighth ribs. 