BAY VIEW, Mich. (WWJ) - Troopers in Northern Michigan believe a suspected drunk boater sent himself and two others to the hospital after he plowed into a break wall at high speed.
Michigan State Police were dispatched to Little Traverse Bay around 2:50 a.m. on Wednesday after receiving a 911 report about a man on the water yelling for help.
As troopers searched the area, the found two people with injuries sitting on the break wall near Bay View.
One victim, identified as a 21-year-old Florida woman, had to have a tourniquet applied to her right arm by state police while another victim, identified as a 41-year-old Massachusetts man, sustained multiple injuries to his head and his face.
State police said they then discovered a 26-year-old Grand Rapids man who was heard yelling for help, drifting on the sinking boat in the water.
Troopers were assisted by the Harbor Springs Police Department and rescued the man with their marine patrol boat.
"EMS personnel arrived to treat and transport the victims," troopers said. "All three occupants of the boat were admitted to McLaren Hospital in Petoskey with non-life-threatening injuries."
After an investigation, troopers said the boat, said to be a 2020 Chaparral, with three occupants left Harbor Springs to go boating at an unknown time.
The boat collided into the break wall in Bay View at what troopers said was "a high rate of speed." The force of the crash ejected the Florida woman and the Massachusetts man out of the boat and into the break wall.
According to MSP, the Grand Rapids man, who was driving the boat, smashed his face into the console and remained on the vessel as it drifted out and began to sink.
Troopers said they believe alcohol is a factor in the crash.
MSP contacted the U.S. Coast Guard who will retired the partially submerged boat from the water at some point on Wednesday.
An investigation into the crash remains on going -- no other details were released.
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