Could not see the skiers because of bow...

Bubba1235 · Aug 18, 2011

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/ar...a-boy-9-killed-in-water-skiing-accident-named

Evansdale Police on Thursday identified the boy as Bodee Peterson, of Hudson. Grief counselors are being made available to his classmates at Hudson Elementary School.

Police say the boy and two others skiers fell into the water at Eagle Lake on Wednesday afternoon and were waiting for the boat to come pick them up. Police say the boat driver thought the skiers had gone to shore. He says he couldn't see them because the boat nose was blocking his view.

No charges are expected to be filed.

Gee, every ski boat I've ever driven had a bow... My take, the guy should be charged with vehicular homicide.

relocyo · Aug 18, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

Sad for sure, but thats why they call them accidents, unfortunately it sounds as though theu may have been skiing in a heavily traveled area... Very unfortunate only 9 and sounds like a pretty good skier...

DaNinja · Aug 18, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

Sad indeed.

Was it the tow boat that hit him or another passing boat?

fishrdan · Aug 18, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

Sad story, but...

Where was the spotter, who's job is to keep watch on the skier, especially when they are down....

DaNinja · Aug 18, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

fishrdan said:
Sad story, but...

Where was the spotter, who's job is to keep watch on the skier, especially when they are down....

That...and more than I should post right now.
Very sad.

southkogs · Aug 18, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

Yeah, that's a weird one. Driver thinkin' his dropped skier had just gone ashore seems REALLY off track. Then not seeing the skier because of the bow? Like Bubba said, I've always seen boats have bows before. All very odd and at least questionable.

Tragic that just a little more care and discipline would have saved this kids life.

MTboatguy · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

Unneeded tragedy, every boat I have ever been on when we had skiers in the water, we had one or two spotters that's only job was to keep watch over the skiers...

nlain · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

Very sad. I will say that I do have a spotter, when someone goes down I immediately turn around, locate them, keep them in my view, swing all the way around them and bring the tow rope to them, then decide if they are going again or not. I try not to lose sight of them at all.

j_martin · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

I've nearly tossed out the spotter maneuvering my high performance fish-n-ski boat in high acceleration tight turns........................

Just to get it between my down skier and some j******s that doesn't see him, even though he's holding his ski vertically for visibility.

Lately it seems to have become fashionable to operate a boat at half throttle with the engine trimmed up to create as much wake as possible. Most of the time when doing that, the bow will cover the horizon, and you are basically driving blind. Seems to me that's wreckless driving, but what do I know.

I'm just an old phart in a fishing boat.

Limited-Time · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

Bubba1235 said:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/ar...a-boy-9-killed-in-water-skiing-accident-named

Evansdale Police on Thursday identified the boy as Bodee Peterson, of Hudson. Grief counselors are being made available to his classmates at Hudson Elementary School.

Police say the boy and two others skiers fell into the water at Eagle Lake on Wednesday afternoon and were waiting for the boat to come pick them up. Police say the boat driver thought the skiers had gone to shore. He says he couldn't see them because the boat nose was blocking his view.

No charges are expected to be filed.

Gee, every ski boat I've ever driven had a bow... My take, the guy should be charged with vehicular homicide.

Manslaughter, maybe..................but homicide????

j_martin · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

Limited-Time said:
Manslaughter, maybe..................but homicide????

Manslaughter is when you screw up and someone dies.

Vehicular homicide is when what you do can be expected to kill someone.

If you drive a boat through skiers and are not able to see where you're going, I think a case could be made for homicide, but manslaughter at least.

Limited-Time · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

The law generally differentiates between levels of criminal culpability based on the mens rea, or state of mind. This is particularly true within the law of homicide, where murder requires either the intent to kill ? a state of mind called malice, or malice aforethought or the knowledge that one's actions are likely to result in death; manslaughter, on the other hand, requires a lack of any prior intention to kill or create a deadly situation.

I doubt the boat captain knew his actions would result in the death of a 9 year old boy.

emilsr · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

fishrdan said:
Sad story, but...

Where was the spotter, who's job is to keep watch on the skier, especially when they are down....

I'm not sure about that particular state, but some will let you get away with a mirror; spotter isn't required everywhere.

Very sad story for ALL involved.

solmate · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

emilsr said:
I'm not sure about that particular state, but some will let you get away with a mirror; spotter isn't required everywhere.

Very sad story for ALL involved.

Horrible tragic end to a young life. I'm sorry, but I have a mirror, always have a spotter & I know exactly where my downed skier/wakeboarder/tuber is as soon as they go down. This is an accident that shouldnt have happened.

HT32BSX115 · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

Yeah. This is terrible to be sure!

Even though no "charges" will be filed.

You can be sure that the deceased kids family is already readying the lawyer to charge the driver, boat owner and anyone else in the boat at the time!!

It will not be pretty.

oops! · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

emilsr said:
I'm not sure about that particular state, but some will let you get away with a mirror; spotter isn't required everywhere.

Very sad story for ALL involved.

well that law needs to be changed......

im sorry ...i just dont get it.....?????.......how do you loose your skiers?....how far was he going (lets say without a spotter) before he noticed the skier was off.....i just dont get it.....when the driver did turn.....even with nose up......he had to be looking for the skiers during the turn, or he would not hove known the exact track to pick them up on......i just dont get it.......

i wasnt there,.,.....but i think charges in this case.

side note,........we lost a tuber the other day....boat hit her......both the drivers (tow and the collision boat)are being charged. booze not a factor

SS MAYFLOAT · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

The boy was a member of a water ski team. So if they were practicing, no doubt the driver of the boat would have plenty of experience. At least it would seem. Like others have said, it is odd. Most teams will use regular ski boats designed for the purpose. Most I have seen sit pretty low in the water even doing wake boarding.

Just because no charges have been filed does not mean that the investigation is over. I am sure the authorities are investigating to find reason to file charges....Just my 2 cents worth.............SS

DaNinja · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

So much of this is beyond my ablity to imagine. How many errors had to pile up to actually run over your own skiers.
As an accident investigator by trade, I just can't put together how many things had to go wrong for this to occur.

Ultimately it all comes back to operator error, but there had to be other failures in the chain of events.

Silk · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

This literaly makes me sick to my stomach.

Just a couple weeks ago I was coming out on our lake and noticed a boat towing a tube going hell bent for election a ways in front of me, I did a double take and sure enough, no one was on the tube

. The riders were about 150 plus yards behind the boat bobbing in the water and the only thing I could see were their heads. It completely freaked me out, if I hadn't been paying attention it could have been ugly as the people in the water were in the path I typically took for that side of the lake. I slowed way down and putzed towards the swimmers just so another boat wouldn't hit them, and eventually the tow boat swung around, they did have a spotter, I don't know what he was doing but they sure as hell weren't doing a good job. I played the b!tchy mom and told them to watch their riders better, they were young and gave me a guilty look, and the "yeah we werent paying attention".

oops! · Aug 19, 2011

Re: Could not see the skiers because of bow...

DaNinja said:
So much of this is beyond my ablity to imagine. How many errors had to pile up to actually run over your own skiers.

ditto......i just dont get it

Could not see the skiers because of bow...

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