RedactedNarrative: On Tuesday August 25, 2020 at approximately 1:58 PM, I, Cpl. with Natural Resources Police (NRP) Criminal Investigations, responded to the mouth of the South River near Turkey Point in Anne Arundel County for reports of a boating accident.  Anne Arundel County was reporting a 41 ft. vessel collided with a 16 ft. vessel, ejecting two people from the 16 ft. vessel.  One victim was rescued from the water, the other victim was still missing. Anne Arundel County Fire and NRP were conducting surface searches as well as Side Scan Sonar searches of the area in attempt to locate the missing victim.
  
    While in route to the accident I learned the following information from the CAD.  A USCG Documented 41 ft. vessel named “Odyssey” was being operated by the owner when it struck a 17 ft. Jon Boat.  With Operator1 was a diesel mechanic.  The Jon Boat was being operated by its owner, who was currently missing.  There was a second passenger on the Jon Boat, who was rescued by Operator1 and is currently on the striking vessel awaiting EMS.
  
     The weather conditions during this incident are as follows; Air Temp- 85 Water Temp- 81  Wind- 5 mph and increasing Wave height- 1 foot and increasing Clear skies with some clouds
  
    When EMS first made contact the V2 occupant1 on the striking vessel, V2 occupant1 provided a brief account of the accident. Lt. with Anne Arundel Fire transcribed the following from what V2 occupant1 told him;
  
    Written statement as transcribe by Lt. (AA Fire)
    “V2 occupant1 states they were going approximately 10 knots when they were t boned on ort side by a larger vessel going to his estimation 25 knots.  His friend was seen in the water after the accident. He was without a life jacket.” V2 occupant1 was able to provide a more detailed statement while at Anne Arundel Medical Center.
  
  Statement Provided by V2 occupant1, transcribed by Cpl. 
  OnTuesday 8/25/2020 at approximately 3:30 AM, Operator2 and I left from his house for a day of crabbing. “Operator2”, my best friend, and I towed a 17’ gray Jon Boat to the Turkey Point Marina in Edgewater. We launched the boat and traveled across the South River to the area of the barge. We crabbed until noon, we were both recreational crabbers and had about two bushels of crabs.
  
    Around noon we started back towards the Turkey Point Marina. When we were approximately 300 yards from the barge, close to the middle of South River we were struck by a 40’ boat. The boat struck us on the port side about the middle of our boat. I was in the bow and “Operator2” was operating the tiller. I never saw the boat coming. I was knocked unconscious and regained consciousness at the bottom the river.  When I surfaced, I heard and saw Operator2 approximately 30 feet from the stern. Operator2 said he needed help. I told him to tread water. I looked for the cooler to take him.  When I went to get it, Operator2 was gone. It seemed like I was in the water forever. I have a head injury, a shoulder injury to my right side, abrasion on my back and pains.
  
    The boat was manufactured in Florida, Custom Made. It is aluminum painted gray.”
  
    I arrived on scene in the area of Thomas Point at approximately 2:35 PM, where I attempted to assist Cpl. with getting Operator1 and Subject1 off of her patrol vessel and onto shore.  The tide was extremely low and she was unable to safely get alongside a pier that was low enough for the gentlemen to get ashore.  She had to transfer the Operator1, and Subject1 onto another patrol vessel being operated by Sgt. and that vessel was to meet me at Hillsmere Marina.
  
    
  Subject1 refused to give a statement until his company provided legal counsel. I advised Operator1 of his rights and with his rights in mind Operator1 voluntarily gave me a statement and allowed my interview with him to be audio recorded. Operator1 gave the following account of what happened earlier in the day.
   
  
    “The boat was in a sling, so we got the people at the marina to the lower the boat into the water.  We got it off the sling area, haul out area and took it around to the bridge, which is a fixed overhead bridge which goes into Selby Bay.  We noticed that all of my electrical stuff at the helm wasn’t working.  
  
  So I made the assumption that there was a switch back in the trunk area by the stern that one for the helm, one for the cabin, and I had assumed that since that boat had been out of the water for a while getting the old engine pulled out and a new engine put in that it was turned off and I didn’t turn it on. 
  
  So Subject1 who was with me on the boat, I said “Open the trunk and look for that little switch and flick it because I think that’s why none of my electric is working.”  We were still in the 6 mile zone when this happened.  And so he did and that turned everything on so everything at the helm was working. We went out got past the 6 mile zone and I took it up on plane.  
  
  We turned to, after we came out of Selby bay we turned to starboard, I’m sorry I mean port and went west on south river, away from the bay.  Subject1 kept telling me to run it at different rpms, so I was running it at different rpms when we were doing this.  
  
  We went up the South River until we got close to the no wake zone, 6 mile zone and we turned around and headed east on South River. I call them east and west, I don’t know why they call it south river. Anyhow, its south of Annapolis, maybe that’s why.  It’s the river right there where Thomas point light is.  
  
  And then again he told me to run it at some different speeds.   He was checking function of the engines and so forth. I was at the helm the whole time. I was standing because we had no seats because the fiberglass was lifted off of the boat to put the engines in.  We went up past Selby bay where we turn in to go back to the marina and we were heading towards Thomas point light. Before we got there we turned it around because he said we could go back inn to the marina there.  We had enough time, he had enough time. I turned it around, soon after I turned that boat around we had the collision with the other boat. 
  
  Now I don’t know If I couldn’t see it because I  was turning and turning and it was over here (gestured to his right)  and by the time I was at the point where I would have seen it  I was on top of it.   I didn’t see it until we hit.   In fact I didn’t see anything in front of me until we ran over that boat.  I did look at my gauges also. So I don’t know if it was a combination.  The only thing I can think of because it was right after I was making that run  I wasn’t looking front for a period of time so I didn’t have the vision of that boat, I didn’t have that boat in my vision. And I wouldn’t have had it in my vision until I had completed that turn probably.  I don’t even know if the boat was moving or if it was stationary.”
  