Tubing Fatality near Baltimore

[Boz]

Man dies after boat accident

Hit in head by propeller; operator charged

By Nick Madigan | nick.madigan@baltsun.com

August 4, 2009

An autopsy was being performed Monday on a 26-year-old man who died after he was struck in the head by a boat's propeller while tubing on Back River.

The boat's operator was later charged with operating a vessel while intoxicated, police said.

Scott Yeagy, of the 9700 block of Red Clover Court in Parkville, was one of half a dozen people taking turns being towed on a tube Sunday afternoon, according to a spokesman for the Baltimore County Police Department.

The boat's operator, Jason Mohr, 30, told police that Yeagy fell off the tube as he was being pulled along in the water.

Mohr told police he turned the boat around to retrieve his friend and that he "felt a bump under the boat near the prop," said Cpl. Michael Hill, the police spokesman.

"Others on the boat saw Yeagy not moving, floating in the water," Hill said. "People on the boat pulled Yeagy in and they returned to shore."

A caller to The Baltimore Sun said her son-in-law, a paramedic, tried to revive Yeagy on the riverbank and learned that the men had gone tubing as part of a bachelor party.

Hill said Yeagy was declared "dead on the shore from what appeared to be head injuries."

Police officers who responded to the emergency shortly after 5 p.m. could smell alcohol on Mohr's breath, Hill said. After an investigation, Mohr was arrested and charged with piloting a boat while under the influence of alcohol.

Mohr, of the 100 block of Sipple Ave. in Nottingham, was released on his own recognizance.

[HOTSPOT]

Tragic. What a waste.

[Gillagorilla]

That is a shame and fairly close to home for me.

[Trollnheel]

Stupid Stupid Stupid