RedactedNarrative: On July 30, 2017, around 4:30 pm, a boat incident occurred in Dutch Second Creek, High Rock Lake in Rowan County.  Operator was operating a pontoon boat alone.  The pontoon boat (vessel #1) is a 1991, 25 foot, Savannah made by Maurell with a 90 horsepower Johnson outboard.  The vessel is registered to the operator number and hull ID number.   Operator's wife said that Operator was operating the boat back to their dock in order to pick up friends.  Witnesses say they saw him in the water not wearing a life jacket behind the boat waving for help.  None of the witnesses present observed how Operator ended up in the water.  Witnesses say that the boat was not running when Operator was waving for help.  Once the witnesses were able to get to Operator's location in their boat, they were unable to find Operator.  The witnesses dropped an anchor approximately 200 yards from shore with a life jacket tied to the anchor's rope to show where Operator was last seen.  At approximately 10:00 pm, Operator's body was recovered from the area he was last seen.  Once Operator's body was identified, myself and Officer, along with Rowan County Sheriff's Office met with Operator's wife and family to notify them that Operator's body had been recovered.
  
  On 7/30/17 at approximately 4:53 pm officer and myself were sitting at the mouth of dutch second creek and the main channel of high rock lake in our patrol boat when we received a call from raleigh dispatch regarding a potential drowning.  Rowan co dispatch advised us that the location was between bringle ferry rd and stokes ferry rd.  We arrived on scene at 5:08pm.  Officer was behind us in his patrol boat.  I saw emergency personnel along with rowan co so on shore.  Officer2 and i observed a red pontoon boat with multiple people waving their hands, a small jon boat with two people on board and a pontoon boat beached on shore.  Officer2 and i drove over to the small jon boat to gather information while Officer1 made contact with the pontoon boat beached on shore.  
  
  Two people were the occupants of the small jon boat and were casting fishing lines in the water to attempt to locate operator.  They then told us that about 15 mins prior to our arrival they heard operator yelling for help and noticed him waving his arms in the water about 10 feet behind his pontoon boat.  They also told us that they had tied a yellow life jacket to an anchored rope at operator's last seen location in the water.  We asked them to operate their boat back to shore in order for us to gather information.  We then went to the yellow life jacket to retrieve gps coordinates, lat. 35.598890 lon -80.325646, and to observe the area.  Officer1 advised us on our way back to shore that he was with the victim's family which was at the pontoon boat on shore.
  
  Once we arrived back on shore, they told us that the pontoon boat was retrieved by the operator's stepson, and brought it to shore.  I began asking Them questions about what happened while Officer2 went to check on wife and stepson.  Subject1 said that operator was approximately 100 yards from the shore when Subject1 jumped into his boat to go for help.  Subject1 stated that he was about 15-20 feet from operator when operator went under the water.  Subject1 then jumped into the water in order to find operator.  Subject2 was calling 911 during this time and then she swam out to assist her husband in attempting to locate operator.  Officer2 came back to my location at this time and gave witness statement forms to fill out.  
  
  Operator's wife, and her son then came over to our location and i began asking questions.  Wife stated that operator had dropped her and her son off on shore to go back over to their dock to pick up friends from their church.  Wife and son were just floating on inflatable river tubes when they heard operator yelling for help.  Wife stated that the pontoon boat had had mechanical problems and she was not sure why her husband was in the water.  Wife and son said that he was complaining of shoulder problems and son also said that operator had high blood pressure.  Wife stated that operator had only drank one or two beers.  Wife said that her husband was wearing an orange bathing suit, had on a silver wedding band, and had tattoos on his arm and foot.  After speaking with son, he stated that he swam out to the drifting pontoon boat to retrieve it and the motor was not running.  Son then swam the pontoon boat back to shore.
  
  After speaking with witnesses, rowan county rescue squad, millers ferry volunteer fire dept, and liberty volunteer fire dept rescue, vessel arrived on scene and immediately began searching for operator.  While i stayed with wife, Officer2 and son went over to the boat to document its condition.  The vessel's bow was grounded ashore at lat. 35.597852 lon. -80.326501.  The vessel had nc registration number, registered to operator.  
  
  Upon first observation of the boat there were 4 type ii pfds, 3 type iii pfds, one type iv throwable flotation device and one uscg approved fire extinguisher.  All boating safety items were readily available and in good serviceable condition.  The vessel's throttle was in neutral with the key turned off still in the ignition and the motor in the down position.  An opened miller lite beer can in a koozie was in the operating area.  There was a blue cooler located on board with sodas and unopened miller lite cans.  The operator's chair was facing forward towards the steering wheel and had a light colored t shirt laying over the back of the operator's chair.  There were no dents, bent railings, blood, or scratches showing signs of a struggle or fall and nothing on board looked disheveled.  
  
  After the boat condition was documented by Officer2, subject3 (son’s father) arrived on scene after the incident and then operated the boat over to wife to pick her and family members up in order to go back to the dock.  Wife and her family members went back to the dock in order for us to secure the scene and wait for further information.  While subject3 was operating the boat, Officer2 and i noticed that it took subject3 multiple attempts to get the engine started.  Once it was started, it continued to cut off multiple times.  The engine was not running smoothly and it took her approx 5 mins to get the boat to our location which was 50 yds from the boat.
  
  Around 10pm, rescue crew divers recovered operator's body from the water.  The depth where he was located was approx 9 feet.  Operator's body was located within appx 50 yds northeast of the yellow life jacket gps coordinates lat. 35.598890 lon. -80.325646.  Officer2 and i examined the body once we arrived at the dock of fisherman's cove boating access area to determine identity.  We observed operator was wearing orange shorts, a silver wedding band, a black watch on his left writs.  We also observed a tattoo on his foot and shoulder.  He was not wearing a pfd, no observable lacerations or bruising was seen.  It appears the cause of death was drowning. After viewing the body, rescue crews then transported operator's body to the intended medical facility in salisbury nc.
  
  It appeared that operator was in the process of operating his vessel back to the dock in order to pick up friends and bring them back to that location.  At some point while operating the boat alone, operator ended up in the water.  After speaking with witnesses, no one observed him fall into the water.  While operator was in the water, it appeared that he was struggling to stay afloat.  Due to his struggles in the water, operator drowned.  Operator was not wearing a personal flotation device at the time of the incident.  There were no signs of criminal activity and his death was ruled an accidental drowning by the rowan county medical examiner.  Alcohol and/or drugs were not a contributing factor in this incident.  No charges were filed as a result of this incident.