Oak Ridge Today

TWRA looking for watercraft riders in hit-and-run crash that injures four on Melton Hill Lake

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Personal Watercraft Operator Melton Hill Lake Crash June 30 2016

A photo of a personal watercraft and operator that witnesses described as striking a boat containing a family pulling a child on a tube on Melton Hill Lake on Thursday, June 30, 2016. (Photo courtesy TWRA)

 

Tennessee officials are investigating a hit-and-run boating crash on Thursday on Melton Hill Lake in the area of Clark Park and Knox County Park.

The crash was reported at about 7:45 p.m. Thursday. Among the agencies that responded were the Oak Ridge Fire Department, which went to Clark Center Park in south Oak Ridge.

According to witnesses, two personal watercrafts, or PWCs, were operating near the bluffs directly across from Knox County Park and going back and forth between the dock at the park and the bluffs where others were swimming, according to a press release from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Witnesses describe the operators as being reckless and inconsiderate, and as one of the PWCs left the bluff and headed toward the park, it collided with a boat in the area containing a family pulling a child on a tube. [Read more…]

Norris Lake boating crash leaves operator in serious condition

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Norris Lake Boat Crash

TWRA Investigator Matt Majors stands at the engine’s lower unit, which was torn from the boat during an accident at Heatherly’s point on Norris Lake late Thursday night. The vessel traveled about 69 feet after striking the point. (Photo by TWRA)

 

LAFOLLETTE—A LaFollette boater remains in serious condition following a boating accident that happened on Norris Lake late Thursday night, authorities said.

Just before midnight, Jimmy Arnold, a 52-year-old white male from LaFollette, was operating an open bow 24-foot Chaparral boat on Norris Lake when the accident occurred just downstream of Shanghai Marina, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said.

According to witnesses on a nearby houseboat, Arnold, who was the vessel’s sole occupant, was headed to their location at Heatherly’s point when the vessel ran aground, sending it about 69 feet onto the point. Witnesses onboard the houseboat dialed 911. [Read more…]