[StBernard] Authorities investigate two weekend boat crashes in St. Bernard Parish waters

[Westley Annis]

Authorities investigate two weekend boat crashes in St. Bernard Parish
waters
by The Times-Picayune 
Wednesday June 17, 2009, 2:11 PM
Officials from the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the St.
Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office are investigating two separate boat crashes
in St. Bernard Parish over the weekened.


Several people were injured in the two crashes, authorities said. Capt.
Brian Clark, head of the sheriff's Marine Division, said none of the
injuries were life threatening, but did include broken bones and severe
lacerations.

Clark said the Marine Division and state authorities will step up
enforcement efforts in the summer months, especially on weekends and the
Fourth of July holiday, as waterways become much more crowded with boaters.

"Speed is a factor in most boating accidents,'' Clark said in a news release
from the Sheriff's Office. "People should assume there is a boat coming at
them in every turn and they should slow down and give themselves time to
react and make good decisions.''

In one of the crashes Saturday, a boat operator and two passengers were
injured when their boat struck the shoreline in Dike Canal in Violet. Blood
was drawn from the operator to test for alcohol use, authorities said. Those
tests have not come back yet.

In the other accident Saturday, two men were ejected after their boat struck
a submerged object in Bay Eloi, north of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet,
the Sheriff's Office said. 

Both crashes remain under investigation and citations could be pending,
Clark said.