Teen charged with BUI after June 5 single-craft accident on Turners Creek
A 16-year-old boy was charged with boating under the influence in the aftermath of a June 5 boat crash on Turners Creek beneath the U.S. 80 bridge, according to investigative reports obtained from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
The 16-year-old female passenger in the boat sustained serious head injuries that sent her to the hospital.
The boat crash was the third in a series of major boat accidents that occurred in Savannah earlier this year. On May 5, local businessman Joe Moore was killed when a boat he was aboard struck an unlit channel marker near the Savannah Yacht Club and he was hit in the head by an unknown object.
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Georgia DNR Investigation
The DNR report reveals that the boy, who was operating his father's small powerboat, was driving fast. The boy told DNR investigators that the girl was sitting in his lap, obscuring his view. When he reached down to pick up his cell phone, he struck the wooden fenders beneath the U.S. 80 bridge.
The girl was ejected about 7 to 8 feet from the boat, and the boy called 9-1-1 then jumped in the water to find her near a dock. Both passengers were later transported by Chatham EMS to Memorial University Medical Center, where the girl was treated for a deep head laceration, a brain bleed, a broken back, a broken wrist, broken jaw and right eye damage.
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When GDNR Game Warden Quintin Reed first responded to the crash, the 16-year-olds did not want his help, he noted in his report. At one point, when the boy was talking to Reed on the Ga DNR vessel, Reed could smell alcohol. But, the boy said "neither of them had been drinking.” The boy also initially told Reed that he didn’t have identification on him, but later admitted he did.
While in the parking lot of the Savannah Boathouse Marina, Reed was standing beside the boy, when the boy looked at him and admitted, “It’s my fault.”
At the time of the incident, Reed did not perform standardized field sobriety tests “due to the conditions of the victims.” Blood drawn later at the hospital was provided to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Pooler Crime Lab, which revealed the boy's blood alcohol level to be 0.041 — lower than the state's .08 legal limit, but significant because of the teen's age.
Drew Favakeh is the public safety reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at AFavakeh@savannahnow.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Teen charged with BUI after June accident on Turners Creek
