On the afternoon of Wednesday June 7, 2023 Operator1 and her father, Father, put in on the Ouachita River at Forsythe Park.  Operator1 was driving the vessel.  They went north on the river to see if they could find any fishing spots for a future date.  

At some point during the trip, the trim went out on the motor.  The motor was in an up positions so Father decided to use the trolling motor to get back to Forsythe Park since they were not real far from the landing.  

At approximately 6:45 pm the trolling motor quit working.  Father looked back at operator, who was sitting in the drivers seat, and saw water starting to come up around her feet.  Operator1 then opened the battery compartment and discovered it was full of water.  

The bilge pump was not working so she started to motor, which was in the water enough to move the boat, and drove it to the east bank of the river.  During the excitement they forgot to pull the trolling motor up, so when they hit the bank it snapped the shaft of the trolling motor.  Once on the bank, they tied the boat off to a tree and the rear of the vessel sank to the bottom. No drug or alcohol use is suspected, and PFD's were worn.

     On the afternoon of Tuesday June 13, 2023 I, Sgt., assisted Father in getting the vessel back on the trailer.  When he pulled it out of the water, I looked to see if the plug was in it, and it was.  With it on the trailer, I could not really get under it enough to see if it had a crack in the hull or not, but from what I could see it looked in good condition.  I thought that a hose to the aerator pumps or bilge pump may have come loose in the rear compartment, but with it on the trailer no water was leaking out of the boat.  The plug had to be pulled out for the vessel to drain.  It is unknown why the vessel took on water.

Ouachita River
Monroe                        