Boat-accident injuries turn serious

The injuries sustained by a minor at Success Lake Monday afternoon were more serious than initially reported.

The family stated they wanted their privacy and declined to give the boy’s name.

According to Calvin Foster, southern area manager for the Sacramento Districts Corps of Engineers, the incident occurred when the child, who they estimated to be about 12 years old, fell off a tube and hit when the boat towing it circled around to retrieve him.

In the original Porterville Recorder story, which ran Tuesday, Foster was quoted as having said that the vessel hit a wake before coming down on top of the child, but that the injuries did not appear to be life threatening. He also described the injury as a “gash” on the shin, and said he did not believe the boy’s leg had come in contact with the boat’s propeller.

“I would like to know how he knows that? He can’t figure all that out standing on the dock,” said Richard Sanchez, the boy’s father. “I would like to know how a vessel hits a wake and comes down on someone.”

Sanchez said he believes Foster never got close enough to see the condition his son was in.
“[Foster] didn’t get in the water. He had no idea. No, my son did not suffer injuries to one leg, it was both of them — along with other parts of his body,” Sanchez said. “If my son had no contact with the [propeller], we would not be sitting here right now at [Children's Hospital Central California]."

On Wednesday Foster said he was not at the site of the incident at all when the accident occurred. After receiving the call from the Tulare County Sheriff’s patrol , park rangers called him. The initial call to the park rangers was listed as 3:14 p.m. Foster said he became aware of the situation at approximately 3:40 p.m.

“We rushed right up there but the ambulance had already left the scene,” Foster said. “I had very limited information and I gave [my comment] based on what one passenger on the boat said — that the shin on his left leg had a gash. I asked him to describe it, and yes, under those circumstances, it would have been non life-threatening.”

Foster said he learned later that the passenger on the boat was not aware of the severity of the injury because the boy had been removed from the water, placed on the boat, and had his legs covered with a towel.

“The next day, when I found out the degree of the injury, I was going to contact [The Recorder] but I spoke with the father first and he said no more info, don’t contact [them],” Foster said. “But initially, I based my comment on that passenger on the boat since I had very little to go on.”

Sanchez said he was also concerned about the response time the paramedics took to arrive at the scene.

The youngster was eventually transferred to Children’s Hospital Central California in Madera.

“I am about 10 miles north of the lake and they sit three miles south,” Sanchez said. “They even had a head start, since 9-1-1 was called before I was notified.”

Sanchez said he believed the ambulance had been parked at either the Eagle’s Nest campground or the empty store parking lot on Highway 190 and Road 284.

Due to health privacy laws, the ambulance company was not allowed to disclose information about dispatch or response times nor where they were stationed when the call came in.
Porterville is approximately 8 miles from the lake.

Because the boy’s name has not been made public, his condition at Children’s Hospital could not be released.