I don't spend much time inputting around these sites, but this story needs to be told. The wife and I along with our adult son and his squeeze, were recently enjoying the great weather at The River ( October 23-26 ). We were staying at Harrah's, and after spending the day out of Katherine Landing and cleaning up, we set off for a water taxi ride from Harrah's to The Belle to meet with some fellow boaters for some fun (8pm)...This is where things get strange. After clearing the "buoy line", the Water Taxi Operator started to throttle up..BUMP BUMP..I say something stupid like nice rocks, my Son who is looking back over the transom say's There's a body in the water!! We had run over somebody that was in the water. Fearing the worst, I ran back to take a look and sure enough we have this guy wrapped up in the starboard outboard prop..LONG STORY..My Son and I end up stripped down, standing on the swim platform trying to cut this poor guy out of the prop. He's completely dressed in Levis (what's left of them), Boots, shirt etc. Don't know how he came to be in the water. Seemed to be a bit intoxicated to me.He's screaming to not let him die. This whole thing turned into one of the biggest nightmares I've ever been involved in. We were finally able to get this guy up on one of the swim steps while I tried to hold his ass together. It had been cut in two across the left buttocks and right through the rectal area...NOT PRETTY.
Not enough room here to convey what all took place that night. After putting together some pieces of the puzzle that night I was able to come up with this. Law enforcement recieved a call about someone in the water near the Colorado Belle. He had drifted all the way down to Harrah's before we struck him.
I have never seen such cavalier attitudes on the parts of the rescue workers in all my years (and there have been a few). They ranged from wise cracks like "Talk about being torn a new one" to "looks like my guys are gonna have to get their boots wet".
I understand that the person who was in the water was air-lifted to Las Vegas that night. I also understand that the Captain of the Water Taxi has been placed on some sort of Administrative leave pending a Coast Guard investigation. Isn't it interesting that not one person ever asked for my name, what I saw, what we did, what took place and on and on...Was a great trip other than that.I'll post some shots of boating when I get a chance.