LAKEPORT, Calif. – Authorities are investigating a boat crash on Thursday afternoon that led to a man’s death.
Sgt. Andy Davidson of the Lake County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol told Lake County News that a single boat with two people on board was involved, with one fatality.
The incident was first reported just after 3:45 p.m. Thursday, according to radio traffic.
The initial report came in to Lake County Central Dispatch as a vessel crash with a 57-year-old male with a possible head injury, based on radio traffic. The specific location of the crash was not reported.
Lakeport Fire Protection District Chief Doug Hutchison said firefighters were told that the boat would be coming to Library Park, so that is where they responded minutes later.
However, Hutchison said when firefighters arrived, the boat wasn’t there.
He said they located the boat a short time later at the Skylark Motel, with two individuals – both male adults – on board, one of them seriously injured.
“The boat was definitely damaged, it had some kind of collision,” Hutchison said.
He said the man who drove the boat in said the other man had been driving the boat when it hit a tree, dropping him between the seats.
“We confirmed him dead right there,” Hutchison said of the man who had been injured in the crash.
At that point, Hutchison said the incident was turned over to the sheriff’s office.
Davidson told Lake County News Thursday evening that the sheriff’s office was in the middle of the investigation, and he had no other details to release yet.
He said he expected more information on the incident would be available on Friday.
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Authorities investigate fatal boat crash
- Elizabeth Larson