On october 29, 2023, around 4:15 i received a phone call from jacksonville police department that there had been a boating incident near northeast creek park.  There was one male operator on the jet ski and he had crashed into the land.  The operator was being transported to naval medical center on camp lejeune.  I went to the hospital and met with a hospital police officer who gave me the operator's name.

I spoke with the charge nurse and she said that i could not see operator because he had been sedated.  I then left the hospital and drove to northeast creek park to look at the incident scene.  I met the jacksonville police officer who was on scene along with sgt. and captain.  We launched my 18ft g3 and went across the river to look at the jet ski and the incident scene.  The jet ski had been drug out of the woods by the operator's girlfriend's sons.  According to witnesses, operator was acting crazy and yelling.  He had just dropped off one of his girlfriends' sons on the dock and then left the ramp.  He was doing doughnuts with his jet ski and then headed straight out into the river.  He then turned and drove his jet ski into the marsh and a large cedar tree.

I interviewed operator on october 31.  Around 1030 am, i went to his residence to have him fill out the 4.1 form.  Operator said that he had drank one beer that day and i asked him if he had taken any drugs or medication.  Operator went and got all the medications he had taken that day before the boating incident.  Operator had taken seven medications that day and four of those medications have interactions with alcohol.  Meloxicam which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug says to avoid alcohol that serious interactions can occur, hydrocodone is an opioid used to treat pain, cetirizine is an antihistamine, and sertraline is used to treat depression, panic attacks, and several other disorders and when combined with alcohol there can be increased dizziness and or drowsiness. 

Operator said that he did not remember anything from the day of the boating incident.  He said that he did not remember leaving the dock or operating the jet ski.  Operator had two broken ribs, a cracked sternum and 14 staples in the back of his head.


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NEW RIVER
JACKSONVILLE                  