On July 13th, 2023, I GWFC was notified about a boating incident on Lake Lanier in the Chattahoochee River near Don Carter State Park in Hall County. I made my way to the incident. I met the owner of the house who told me that a 14-year-old girl had broken her leg when she had been thrown from a tube being pulled by a jet-ski. The EMT's and Fire Service had just cleared the scene and everyone who was involved in the incident had left to go to the hospital with the victim.

	I arrived at the hospital a short time later and interviewed the operator of the PWC and a friend of the victim who had been riding in the tube as-well. The operator stated that she was driving the PWC when she turned the vessel and the tube she was pulling went over the wake and the tube rolled over. 

When she looked back, she saw that the girls were not in the tube. She went to pick up the girls from the water and one of the girls was saying her leg was broken. Operator picked the girls up and drove them to the dock they had come from. The homeowner came down and called 911 for help. I interviewed the other girl on the tube, and she also confirmed the story. I asked Operator why she didn't have an observer onboard her PWC and she stated she didn't know she needed one. 

	In conclusion, tuber broke her left femur bone when the tube she was in rolled over and the force of the rolling along with the inertia of her body caused her femur to break when her leg was stuck in the tube. Operator was cited for towing a skier without an observer a violation of OCGA: 52-7-8.2. 

END OF REPORT

Lake Lanier
GAINESVILLE                   