IPSWICH — Police Chief and Harbormaster Paul A. Nikas reports that Ipswich Police responded today to a serious boating crash in which a 19-year-old Ipswich man sustained serious, life-threatening injuries.
At approximately 2:57 p.m. Ipswich Police responded to a report that a man had been seriously injured in an
incident involving a 19 foot, center console boat in the area of the third creek mooring field. Ipswich Police Lt. Jon Hubbard and Patrolman Brian Murphy responded to the scene in the department’s police boat within two minutes of the initial call.
A preliminary police investigation indicates that all four occupants of the boat fell off the vessel when it took a turn. After the occupants fell into the water, the boat began circling, unmanned, during which time the operator of the boat, a 19-year-old Ipswich man, was run over by the boat. The man sustained serious, life-threatening injuries.
No one else was injured by the incident.
The boat ultimately crashed into a nearby houseboat owned by the victim’s family, causing serious damage.
A nearby boat stopped to help and pulled the injured man from the water. The victim was transferred to the Ipswich Police boat upon its arrival and police began providing emergency medical care.
All four people involved in the incident were brought to the Ipswich Bay Yacht Club on Quay Road, where they were met by an ambulance.
A medical helicopter responded to the yacht club’s mooring fields and transported the victim to Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington.
Additional members of the Ipswich Police Department, members of the Ipswich Fire Department, Newbury Harbormaster and Massachusetts Environmental Police also responded to the scene to provide mutual aid.
The crash remains under investigation by Ipswich Police and the Massachusetts Environmental Police.
