Accident
Reconstruction Network > News >August 2008
Accident Reconstruction News Article
Local woman in hospital with spinal fracture
A Pleasant Prairie woman remains in the hospital after a boating accident that killed a Kenosha man Sunday near Kenosha's harbor.
Authorities expect a boating crash reconstruction team - Department of Natural Resources wardens trained in crash reconstruction - to arrive from Green Bay in the comming days.
Authorities believe the cause of the crash was alcohol, said DNR warden Jennifer Niedermeyer.
"We base that on witness statements," she said. "We know they were drinking; we just don't know how much."
Andrea Wooters, 26, suffered a spinal fracture and other back injuries after being ejected - along with two others - from the 18-foot boat about 1:15 a.m., after the boat ran into the harbor's break wall at high speed.
Wooters remained at Kenosha Medical Center Tuesday, although doctors have contemplated flying her to Froedert Hospital in Wauwatosa, Niedermeyer said.
The wreck also killed Daniel Eddy, 31, of Kenosha. Charles Meldoff, also of Kenosha, was treated for minor injuries and released.
Despite the admitted involvement of alcohol, officials won't file charges, Niedermeyer said. State laws allow for the consumption of alcohol on boats, but not by those operating the boats.
Eddy was piloting the craft before he died and would have been the only one eligible for criminal charges, Neidermeyer said.
"We recommend anyone who is consuming alcohol on the water - like on land or anywhere - have a designated driver," she said.
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