2 killed in boat crash were intoxicated

Last month a couple was killed when their 17-foot Ranger Bass boat crashed into a dock late at night. The two were on their way back from a friend’s house when the accident occurred at Lake Murray.

The driver, a 53 year-old man and his wife, have since been proven to be intoxicated with blood alcohol levels two to three times higher than the legal limit. The dock protrudes nearly 60 feet into the lake; the man hit the dock 12 feet from shore. The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the woman’s body was found early Saturday morning on the shoreline. Both died from severe head trauma as a result of the boating accident.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources are looking into options on how to prevent boating accidents. Ideas include imposing speed limits and adding more patrol units. However, adding more officers has proven to be extremely expensive.