LAKE JAMES, IN (WTVB) – A woman from Toledo, Ohio suffered minor injuries to her face in a freak Fourth of July boating accident on Lake James in Steuben County.
Indiana Conservation Officers say 40-year-old Matthew Meyer of Fort Wayne was operating his Personal Watercraft just before 11:00 a.m. when he stopped for a swim.
As he was putting on his Personal Floatation Device, the kill switch lanyard wrapped around the throttle of his PWC causing it to accelerate to near full speed.
Meyer was thrown off and the PWC continue unmanned for about 300 yards before it struck the outboard motor of a pontoon which was moored at a sandbar.
One of nine occupants on the pontoon was thrown into the shallow water. 69-year-old Denise Martin was treated for her minor injuries at Cameron Memorial Hospital in Angola. Conservation officers say alcohol was not a factor in the crash.
