Swimmers Injured by Speeding Motorboat

Kentucky Commerce Cabinet News Release
Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources
fw.ky.gov
Swimmers Injured by Speeding Motorboat
Press Release
August 1, 2006 Contact: Mark Marraccini
(800) 852-0942 ext. 310


Frankfort, KY - Law enforcement officers are seeking assistance from anyone who may have information about a motorboat/swimmer collision that occurred minutes after midnight Sunday morning on the Ohio River near Lewisport that left two Indiana women hospitalized with serious injuries.

Witnesses told Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources conservation officers and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department that a motorboat traveling at a high rate of speed struck a mother and daughter who were swimming near Anderson Island.

Lisa Sheppard, 45, and her daughter, Abby Weatherholt, 24, both of Grandview, Ind., were struck just minutes after entering the water. A witness pulled both women from the water and transported them by boat to an ambulance waiting at a Hawesville boat launch ramp.

The injured women were then transported to an Owensboro hospital and treated initially. Sheppard was later flown to the University of Louisville hospital. Both remain hospitalized today.

“The driver of the motorboat may not even be aware of the accident,” said Conservation Officer Jeff Whittinghill. “Witnesses said the boat never slowed or changed course after hitting the women and continued on toward Hawesville.”

Officers are asking anyone who may have information about this accident to please call the Hancock County Kentucky Sheriff’s Office at (270) 927-6247, or the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife hotline at 1-800-252-5378. Indiana residents may call toll free 1-800-847-4367.


Last Updated: 08/02/06

swimming in the Ohio River after midnight??

SCARY.........

* Seems dangerous to be swimming after midnight.
* There is no mention of lighting.......If they were in a boat, wouldn't BOTH boats need lights After dark. The "swimming boat" should have at least had the STERN light turned on.
* The speeding boat, if it had lights was not breaking laws, was it?

Later,

Geo

Bad deal, don't get me wrong...hate to hear about any kind of accident...but two women swimming in the Ohio river, in the dark, in the middle of the night. ???

I'd bet a paycheck that alcohol was involved on the part of the two swimmers, but I'm no CSI.

It's a boater's responsibility to see what is in their immediate path...most of us use spotlights to keep oriented from time to time...but if you're running in open water, how are you supposed to see swimmers in the dark?

I guess it's legal to swim in the dark...and it's legal to run your boat in the dark. Common sense should prevail and you shouldn't be swimming in navigable water in the dark. If I put my wife in a bikini and sent her for a walk by herself downtown at 3AM, I'm inviting trouble. If I took my dog out to I-75 and let him play in the median, I'm inviting trouble.

Hope everyone ends up okay, but DUMB.

swimming in the ohio at all???

>swimming in the ohio at all???


My thoughts exactly.

>>swimming in the ohio at all???
>
>
>My thoughts exactly.

I grew up swimming in the Ohio River. Last time I was on the river, it was the Smithland pool, about 5 years ago, the river was much cleaner than it was when I was growing up. So, why the surprise at swimming in the river? Is it that nasty up around Louisville or something? I know they were in the Hancock County area, and that is not as far down river as Henderson where I grew up on the river.

Just curious as to why the surprise at swimming in the river?

Thanks guys,


Tight lines and God Bless

Danny

Yeah it is ugly and nasty up here around Louisville. They just allowed (I think it passed) a higher ppm of fecal matter when the river is flowing at a certain rate or above. Just hearing that and seeing all the trash and barges just makes me steer clear of the Ohio around here. It has cleaned up (the looks) some with all the riverfront development, but it's still a far cry from being a place I would ever swim.