Runaway boat: Inexperienced owner thrown from boat, swims to shore as boat runs full throttle
A runaway boat on Elizabeth Lake prompted concerns of another drowning. But th eowner was found at his home.
OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - The Oakland County Sheriff's Office said a runaway boat did circles in an Oakland County lake before ultimately running out of gas. Despite fears this could have been another drowning in an Oakland County lake, the sheriff's office said the boat owner and passenger all escaped safely but the owner was inexperienced at operating a boat.
Just before 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, the sheriff's office was called to Elizabeth Lake where an unoccupied boat was doing circles in the middle of the lake. Additionally, clothes and shoes were floating in the water, prompting authorities to be concerned that at least one person had been thrown overboard.
The boat was running full throttle and rescue boats were sent into the lake. The key was still in the ignition with the safety lanyard attached and life jackets were later found stowed on the boat.
As authorities searched and waited for the boat to stop, they were able to track down the owner of the vessel – a 35-year-old Waterford Township man, who they found at home. He said he and his passenger, a 24-year-old Wixom woman, were thrown from the boat after hitting a wake.
Neither were wearing life jackets and both were able to swim to shore.
Roughly 15 to 30 minutes later, the boat ultimately ran out of gas and was towed to shore.
The sheriff said alcohol was involved but the primary factor for the incident was that the man didn't know how to operate the boat.
Oakland County has seen 11 drownings in lakes this summer and Sheriff Michael Bouchard thought they had another tragedy.
"When my phone went off with the emergency message on a report of unoccupied boat running in circles in middle of lake at full throttle and clothing floating in the water, I thought this sure sounds like we’re going to have another tragic death," he said. "In this instance, we had multiple failures that by the grace of God did not end up with someone seriously hurt or killed. Not wearing personal flotation devices, consuming alcohol and not utilizing a safety lanyard with an auto shut off capability was a recipe for a tragedy. I implore people to use common sense and water safety sense. I am again, very proud of our team. They were able to safely recover the boat and determine where the occupants of the boat were in a relatively short period of time, thus bringing a large rescue effort safely to a close."