FROM PRELIMINARY REPORT: 

On the evening of 11/13/2023, at approximately 20:15 EST, Officer 1 was called by KSP Post 12 regarding a boat accident on Taylorsville Lake, close to the Chowning boat ramp. When Officer 1 initially received the call, crews were still searching for a subject and the accident. While enroute, Officer 1 was notified the subject had been found and was being checked out by Spencer Co EMS at the boat ramp. Upon arrival Officer 1 interviewed Operator, as to what took place on the lake this evening. Operator stated he had been fishing and was returning to Chowning when he had hit a stump in the water and was ejected from the vessel. Operator was able to recover from being ejected and quickly swam to another stump and held on, until his vessel hit another stump in the water and came to rest. Operator then swam to his vessel and attempted to start it, to which it failed to throttle up. Operator deployed his trolling motor into high gear and began trolling towards a light he saw on the ridge and beached the boat to walk up to the residence. He then went to the top of the ridge and contacted a residence where EMS and fire were called with his location. Operator was then brought down to the boat ramp and checked out by EMS; he was medically cleared with the only symptoms being mild hypothermia. Operator was able to leave in his vehicle on his own accord. The boat was unable to be recovered at this point, due to having taken in too much water at this point. 

11-15-2023
Officer 2 and I followed up on this investigation by contacting Operator and collecting photographs of the vessel and obtaining the call reports for the EMS run. We were informed that Operator's boat was retrieved from Taylorsville Lake by Purchaser who then purchased the boat for parts. Upon arrival at Purchaser's residence to take photos of the vessel, the outboard motor was already detached. The hull had visible scrapes and indentations consistent with collision damage on both port and starboard. The underside of the hull had a large hole on the portside underbody and indentation on port and starboard damage consistent with hitting a submerged object. The port side stern corner had visible indentation damage and the outboard motor lower unit had scrapes, chipped paint and was missing three propeller blades that appeared to be broken off. The new owner of the vessel Purchaser stated that he will use to vessel for spare parts.

-OFFICER 3
Taylorsville Lake
Taylorsville                  