UNDATED (WHTC) - It was busy for law enforcement on the waters along the Lakeshore prior to today’s holiday.
According to Ottawa County Sheriff’s Sergeant Chris Koster, 58-year-old Steven Rescorla of Grand Haven encountered some mechanical trouble on his 36-foot boat last evening as it was going north on Lake Michigan near the Port Sheldon Pier. Rescorla turned around to deal with the problem, and when he turned back, his craft was bearing down on an anchored 17-foot boat straight ahead. He told Koster that he couldn’t avoid a collision, due in part to the mechanical issue.
The force of the crash caused a passenger in the other boat, 58-year-old Barbara Ramoie of Grand Haven, to be tossed overboard; she was taken to North Ottawa Community Hospital for treatment of a minor head injury. Rescorla and the other boat pilot, 57-year-old Larry Baum of Grand Haven, were not hurt.
Koster said that alcohol was not a factor in this crash, but liquor was apparently involved when deputies pulled over a 32-foot boat that hit a dock in South Haven’s Black River on Saturday evening. An unnamed 46-year-old South Haven man was arrested for allegedly piloting the craft while under the influence. One of three other persons on the boat was able to steer the vessel safely to port. This was one of four reported drunken boating arrests made by Van Buren County authorities over the weekend.