One person suffered serious injuries and a boat operator was charged with boating under the influence in a Fourth of July weekend incident on the south end of Lake Lanier in Forsyth County.
The incident in the Young Deer Creek area Saturday evening was one of eight boating incidents Georgia Department of Natural Resources authorities responded to on Lanier.
DNR Public Affairs Officer Mark McKinnon said the male victim was transported to a local hospital following the approximately 6:00 p.m. incident. Citing HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability of Act, McKinnon said he couldn't release the name of the victim.
McKinnon did identify the operator of the boat as Christopher J. Harrison. He was arrested and charged with boating under the influence in connection with the incident, according to McKinnon.
Harrison, of Cumming, posted $2,750.00, early Sunday morning, according to Forsyth County Sheriff's Deputy Epifanio Rodriguez.
The case is under investigation by DNR's Critical Incident Reconstruction Team or CIRT.
"That report won’t likely be available for a few months," McKinnon wrote in an email.
He didn't immediately know what actually happened in the incident or how the person was hurt.
"DNR is handling the entirety of the case. I don’t have any other information that I can give you," Rodriguez wrote in an email.
The incident came in the middle of the long holiday weekend that ended with ten injuries reported to DNR on Lanier. Rangers issued 10 BUIs and four of the eight boating incidents on the lake involved alcohol, according to the agency.
On Lake Hartwell, Rangers issued one BUI and investigated one boating incident over the long weekend.
In statewide totals, authorities made 43 boating under the influence arrests compared to 32 last year. There were four drownings this year compared to five last year.
The holiday keeps rangers busy, specifically the fireworks displays visible by water.
"It does make our guys a little nervous. When you get a lot of boats concentrated in a small area watching the fireworks, and then sometimes you add alcohol to that equation, and then of course it's dark," McKinnon said.
Nearly a dozen people escaped injury Sunday night when a boat sank on Lake Rabun during a fireworks display. On Lanier, three people escaped injury Saturday night when large waves sank their vessel as they were leaving the fireworks display near Sunset Cove Marina in Hall County.
