RedactedNarrative: On Sunday, August 10, 2014, at approximately 1:12 PM, Illinois Conservation Police were dispatched to the Clinton Lake Marina for a report of a child that had been struck in the head with a boat anchor. The investigation determined SUBJECT was boating, on Clinton Lake, with a friend''s seven year old son. SUBJECT allowed the juvenile to operate his watercraft which was an 18'' long, Glastron, open motorboat with a 215 HP engine. SUBJECT claimed he heard a "smacking sound" at the rear of the vessel and looked back to see the boat anchor skipping along the water with the line still attached to the boat. He verbally directed Operator to "slow down". According to SUBJECT, the boat was travelling at an estimated speed of 20 mph when Operator pulled the throttle to the neutral position causing the vessel to abruptly lose speed. Immediately after, the anchor skipped off the water, flew forward into the boat, and struck Operator in the head. 
  
  Directly after the accident happened, SUBJECT called Operator'' biological mother, via cell phone, to inform her of the accident. He then transported Operator to the Clinton Lake Marina and called 911. 
  
  Operator sustained a deep gash behind his left ear. DeWitt County EMS conducted an on-scene assessment. Mom was contacted via cell phone and gave verbal consent to transport Operator to John Warner Hospital. Mom met with EMS and law enforcement at the hospital. She gave verbal consent for Operator to speak with law enforcement. Operator'' version of the accident closely matched information provided by SUBJECT. A copy of the DeWitt County CENCOM DETAIL CALL SHEET is ATTACHED to this report. 
  
  I inspected, and photographed, SUBJECT''s watercraft [PHOTOS - ATTACHED]. No boat safety equipment violations were noted. 
  
  SUBJECT was cited for allowing a person under age ten to operate a motorboat [IDNR Citation- ATTACHED]. 
  
  *NOTE: SUBJECT stated the pair had anchored his boat and went swimming prior to the accident. He said the boat was anchored at the bow with the line fastened to a cleat. He alleged Operator tied the extra, slack line to the bimini cover frame. SUBJECT was certain he had pulled the anchor prior to operating the vessel away from the area where they had been swimming. He did not see the anchor fall / bounce out of his boat prior to the accident.*