NORTHSHORE – Sheriff's officials have offered additional details regarding a Thursday boating collision that resulted in injuries.

Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office explained that the Sheriff's Marine Patrol responded to a boating crash at about 2 p.m. Thursday in the area of the Narrows, between Kono Tayee and Shag Rock off of Buckingham Peninsula.

Four Marine Patrol units responded to the scene while rescue personnel from the Northshore Fire Protection District were staged on shore, Bauman said.

Marine Patrol units reached the scene and found that one vessel traveling northwest through the Narrows had struck another vessel that was adrift and not under way, he said. Both vessels were 17-foot “Tracker” fishing boats and both had three people on board at the time of the collision.

Bauman said 18-year-old Terry Lee Stiles of Clearlake was the operator of the vessel that was struck and he sustained major injuries. His passengers were two minors, also from Clearlake, ages 16 and 17 years old. The 17 year old was not injured and the 16 year old sustained minor injuries.

Joseph Manuel Olivarez of Lathrop, 29, was the operator of the vessel that struck Stiles and his party, according to Bauman. Olivarez was uninjured; however, his two passengers, Olivarez’s 10-year-old son and 28-year-old Manuel Contreras of Pleasanton, sustained minor injuries.

Rescue personnel from Northshore Fire were transported to the collision scene by the Marine Patrol, said Bauman. Stiles was stabilized at the scene and then transported back to shore where he was transferred to an air ambulance and flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. The other injured parties required little or no medical treatment at the scene.

Bauman said the preliminary investigation indicated that the vessel Olivarez was operating was traveling northwest through the Narrows in open water at approximately 20 to 30 miles per hour when it struck Stiles’ vessel on the port side, knocking all three aboard into the water.

Olivarez’s vessel continued, Bauman said, ramping up and over the second vessel before coming to rest in the water. Both vessels sustained major damage.

Bauman said Olivarez’s vessel was released at the scene and Stiles’ vessel was towed to the Sheriff’s Marine Patrol facility.

Alcohol was not a factor in the collision and the accident is still under investigation, Bauman said, who didn't have information on Stiles' condition.

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