On Sunday August 13th at approximately 1645 hours dispatch called over the radio that there was an unconscious child aboard a boat on Echo reservoir. I responded and saw the boat heading into the docks right next to the main ramp. 

When the boat arrived I immediately was told that nothing could be done for the boy and that he had passed away by a woman who had the child wrapped in a towel in her arms as she stepped off the boat.  the child's life jacket which was blue and yellow with orange straps. 

As I took her and the child to the back of my truck she lifted up the towel and I saw all of the child's bowels were out. she placed the child on the back tailgate on my truck and ran across the ramp to the mother of the child who had gotten off the boat and was over in that area. I put the child pads on my AED and placed them on the child and began CPR with a bystander that was a certified nurse. We continued  CPR with a deputy replacing the nurse until EMT's arrived and we transported the child up to the ambulance on a backboard and into a gurney in the ambulance. I then began to gather information from the group. 

There were 15 people on board the vessel, 6 adults and 9 children all under the age of 10.They were out on the lake directly south west of the boat ramp closer to I80. Mother of the child was wake surfing. Four adults including the operator and owner of the boat were seated in the main area of the boat. Most of the kids and subject1 were at the bow of the boat. 

Operator had the cruise control set to 10.5 mph and both ballasts in the boat 85 percent full as he was towing Victim’s mother. Nobody saw VICTIM on the bow of the boat go overboard into the water. All of a sudden everyone heard and felt a thud at the stern of the boat and turned and looked back because Victim’s mother had also fallen while being towed on the wakeboard. 

When they looked back they saw Victim, who was wearing his life jacket, pop up in the water 30 to 50 feet away from the boat. His father and Operator dove into the water to grab Victim and brought him into the boat and began CPR as they also called 911 and headed back toward the boat ramp. They noticed right away a cut above his eyebrow, another cut around his waist where all his bowels came out and his left leg was amputated at about mid calf. All cuts were consistent with being cut by the propeller. 

EMT's called time of death at 1704 after trying to work on him in the ambulance. I continued to gather information and take photos of the boat. The boat was seized as evidence and a consent to search form was signed by Operator. No alcohol was found on the boat or any impairment detected by myself or Trooper who responded to the incident. A day later State bureau of investigations came to Jordanelle State Park where the boat was being kept in a locked facility to run scans on the boat. We were informed by the Medical Examiner that the cause of death was the snapping of the spinal cord by the propeller when it hit Victim in the head.  If that did not then it was the cutting of the femoral artery or the cut in the bowels, but the official cause of death was blunt force trauma. 

Myself and Ranger ran functionality tests on the boat and found that the throttle and steering were in working order. The propeller was removed off the boat and placed into evidence. 

See supplemental's for other details and accounts from other officers as well as pictures of the deceased and dash camera footage of incident.

Echo Reservoir
Coalville                     