RedactedNarrative: Vessel 1 was travelling north on the peace river in the marked channel. Vessel 1 veered out of the channel and collided with a body of land comprised of mangroves, subsequently running aground. 
  
  On april 10th, 2015 at approximately 2134 hours i responded to single vessel accident on the peace river in charlotte county. I arrived on scene approximately one half mile north of the harbour heights boat ramp, next to green channel marker #7. Upon my arrival i observed a blue vessel with 1 adult male and 2 adult females aground and approximately 20 feet through the reeds and into a cluster of mangroves. All subject on board advised that they were not injured and refused assistance from ems, who arrived on scene approximately 10 minutes later. 
   
  The operator/owner of the vessel advised me that they were headed home from the downtown punta gorda area at the time of the accident. He told me that it was extremely dark out and he was having a difficult time seeing. He advised me that he was using his gps unit and spotlight to help him make the trip back home. Operator advised me that his spotlight was not working properly, so he was relying heavily on his gps unit tracking system to safely guide him back home. While looking at his gps unit, Operator advised me that he drove his vessel up into the mangroves, where it came to it's final resting place in approximately 5 inches of water. I conducted a vessel safety inspection, there were no violations. Operator advised me that he had approximately 3 beers throughout the day. I did not see any signs of impairment for Operator. The female passengers were impaired. 
   
  The only visible damage i was able to observe on scene was minor damage to the bimini top. I loaded the 3 occupants onto my vessel delivered them to the navigator boat ramp approximately 3 miles north of the scene. The vessel had to remained on scene. Operator advised me that he would retrieve the vessel the following day during the high tide. On april 11th at approximately 1921 hours i arrived at the Operator residence, and observed the vessel in the driveway. The damage other than the bimini top was very minimal. Operator advised me that he had taken his wife to the hospital that morning where she was diagnosed with a tear in the left rotator cuff. Operator was written citation for careless operation while violating navigational rule #5 (improper lookout) resulting in an accident.