On Sunday (5/25), Deputies from The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Division of Boating Safety responded to the area of Site 6 on Lake Havasu in reference to an injury boating collision. While responding, Deputies learned that there was a female juvenile that was injured and was being transported to Site 6 to meet medical personnel. The reporting party also advised that the injured female, along with another juvenile, were being towed on an inflatable tube behind a boat when a personal watercraft struck them. The reporting party advised that the PWC fled the scene after the collision. Deputies arrived at Site 6 along with their on-board River Medical Paramedics while several other patrol boats searched the area for the involved PWC.
Through investigations, it was determined that a 21-foot boat was towing a tube with a 14-year-old female and a 17-year-old male riding on the tube. As the boat was traveling north near Site 6, a PWC with a single operator was heading south and made an abrupt turn towards the tube. The PWC traveled over the tow rope and the tube impacted the PWC. The male juvenile on the tube was ejected over the PWC while the injured female juvenile was ejected onto the PWC.
The boat was able to return to the PWC and the injured female was able to get back onto the boat along with the male juvenile who was ejected into the water. The occupants of the boat were able to capture a photo of the PWC and the operator before it fled the scene.
Deputies searched the area with patrol boats and drones and were able locate the truck and trailer that had been used to tow the involved PWC at a local launch ramp. Several hours later, a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Helicopter located the involved PWC in the North Basin of Lake Havasu. Deputies responded and located the operator and placed him into custody. The operator of the personal watercraft was identified as Erin House, 53 of Jurupa Valley, CA. House was charged with Leaving the Scene of an Injury Boating Collision, a class 5 felony, and booked into the Mohave County Adult Detention Facility. The injured female juvenile was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. This investigation is ongoing.
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