Fatality on Lake Sinclair in Georgia on 7/1/06. Help needed HIT AND RUN

**X-Rated30** · 07-04-2006, 11:34 AM

Sorry, but I am going to have to join in on the Basser-Bashing. I see the tournament fishermen on my river being both dumb and rude. Trying to get to their sweet spot or to weigh in in a hurry, they run WFO through areas with too many pleasure boaters. They fail to abide by navigation rules or even common sense when they run right down the middle of the river and refuse to yeild the right of way, because they feel they have some air of authority somehow conveyed to them by virtue of having entered a fishing tournament.

I have a fast boat and I run it 90+ on the river. The difference is I pull back on the throttles if i see an area of congestion ahead rather than trying to squeze through. These guys don't realize that their fishing is no more important than someone's party barge cruise.

As far as going fast at night, anyone that goes faster than the distance it takes to stop if there is an object in the way has only a short wait before they prove Charles Darwin right. The only exception to this might be in the open ocean where other boats are few and far between. A tournament weigh in after dark? I am a lawyer and I would take that case.

**captain corona** · 07-04-2006, 03:08 PM

Raceman, have you heard if they have found the person/people that were responsible for this terrible accident yet? Holliday weekends have gotten to be the worst time of the year to try and boat down here. It's no wonder the water cops turn to a$$ holes on those weekends. Things like this tend to prove my favorite saying--They will sell a boat to anyone with a wallet full of cash..Brains on the otherhand are a option! Good luck to the rest of the family and please keep us posted. Mike T.

**Raceman** · 07-05-2006, 06:36 AM

'I knew he was dead'

Widow recalls wreck as authorities search for driver of hit-and-run boat

LAKE SINCLAIR - All Sandra Baxter remembers of the accident that killed her husband Saturday night is the scream of her daughter, the sound of grinding metal, the shock of hitting the water and the struggle to fight her way to the surface.
"The boat that hit us went right over the top of our pontoon boat," Baxter said. "It stopped and (my daughter) screamed, 'I can't find my parents! Please help me!' And they took off. I can't believe they not only killed my husband, they left my daughter screaming for help."
Sandra and Mark Baxter, of Lake Sinclair, and their 25-year-old daughter Laura Johnson, of Atlanta, were coasting their way back to Sandra's parents' house when a boat collided with their pontoon. Mark Baxter, 48, was killed instantly, authorities said.
The Baldwin County Sheriff's Office, the state Department of Natural Resources, the GBI, FBI and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are all working to track down the driver of the boat responsible for the accident, said detective Bobby Langford, lead investigator for the sheriff's office.
Some people have called in tips, so there may have been witnesses that weren't located immediately after the accident, Langford said. The collision took place about 10:30 p.m., but within sight of Little River Park and its marina, the Ga. 441 bridge and many houses on the Putnam and Hancock counties sides of the lake, he said.
Deputies are going door to door seeking witnesses, and DNR officials have extra patrols on the lake checking for damaged boats. Langford said investigators are looking for a fiberglass boat with a V-shaped hull.
Six or seven boats were near enough for their occupants to hear the crash, said Cpl. Doug Bridges, who is leading the DNR portion of the investigation.
But many boaters were more focused on responding to the cries for help than on the perpetrator fleeing the scene, Bridges said.
Sandra Baxter said she does not know the names of the people who pulled her from the water. But she became tearful as she emphasized that while the perpetrators were so thoughtless, others were so caring.
"They were heroes," she said. "Somebody jumped in and found me immediately."
Baxter said the man who found her husband tried to administer CPR. "Mark was bleeding profusely," she said. "I was holding my husband and he was dead. I knew he was dead."
Although Baxter is a good swimmer, she said she probably would have drowned if her daughter had not tossed her a life jacket. Baxter's legs were badly bruised and she refused to leave the water until her husband was located.
The key factors in the case against the boat's operator will be the abandonment of victims in the water and the possible use of alcohol, Bridges said.
The items found floating in the water around the crash site, and believed to have flown out of the boat that struck the pontoon, included beer cans, Langford said. Once the cans and other objects have dried out, they can be fingerprinted.
In addition, some paint flecks were found. Some were yellow and might have come off the boat or items in the boat, Langford said. Many boats have yellow stripes or lettering despite a different overall color scheme, so investigators are not assuming the boat was yellow, he said.
The DNR is consulting with boating manufacturers to try to match the paint to the model and brand of boat.
"I think we have enough evidence that we're going to catch him," Bridges said.
"Everyone's concerned about it," said David Johnston, manager of Little River Park and its marina, where ambulances met the victims of the accident on Saturday night. "Everyone wants to know if they caught the guy. Everybody's got a vendetta against him."
The park hosted a bass fishing tournament, which started at 1 a.m. Sunday morning, shortly after the accident, and Johnston said DNR officials inspected all the boats as they checked in.
The Baxters have owned property on Lake Sinclair since 1975, at first camping out with their four children, Sandra Baxter said. Mark Baxter built a canoe with his two sons, and when the family bought a jet ski, he required the children to take a DNR boating safety class.
"Boating safety was so important to him," Baxter said. "It's so wrong that he should die this way."
But Mark Baxter loved to be on the water. He served in the Navy when he was young, then owned a family barber shop in Stockbridge. When he built the house on the lake - doing all the carpentry himself, with the help of his brother - he split his weeks between the two locations, Sandra recalled. The Baxters moved full time to Lake Sinclair three years ago, and Mark worked as a hairdresser at Stage 1 in Milledgeville, she said.
Sandra Baxter is manager of Oconee Valley Red Cross, and her husband often volunteered for the organization.
Baxter said she is comforted by the fact that her husband died after a wonderful day on the water. The family was talking and laughing together after an evening watching fireworks with friends.
"He died doing what he loved best," she said. "He loved being on the lake."
A memorial service for Mark Baxter will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Williams Funeral Home Chapel in Milledgeville.

IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION
Anyone who has more information about the accident or who has seen a boat with front-end damage is asked to call the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office at (478) 445-4891.

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**Superdave** · 07-05-2006, 11:27 AM

Gee, it appears it MAY have NOT been a bassboater....imagine that...
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_art...?storyid=81541

**Raceman** · 07-05-2006, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by Superdave

Gee, it appears it MAY have NOT been a bassboater....imagine that...

I don't think anybody in this thread has said it was a bassboat. There was a bass tournament. The poor judgement of having a night tournament on a holiday weekend when there would no doubt be drunks out on the lake anyway is unexplainable. I think law enforcement should have a look at the list and visit every boat, simply because there is NO OTHER list to look at. If there was also a list of people who put in at any boat ramp for instance, they should look at it also, but no such list exists.

V bottom is a generic term. I don't think the description V bottom makes the possibility of a bassboat any more or less logical. Personally I don't care if it was a BB, an offshore boat, a ski boat or another deckboat of some type. The fact is, at this point we don't know for sure if the pontoon boat had lights, or if the driver of it somehow contributed to the accident, but the bottom line is, the worthless piece of crap in the other boat drove off and left a man dead or dying in the water, his wife screaming and in the water also, and one of the women saying she would have drowned herself had she not been thrown a lifejacket. I hope the guy is found and rots in jail.

**riebie** · 07-06-2006, 09:24 AM

The description of this tragedy just rips my heart. I pray they catch this piece of crap soon. Norris, please let us know what we can do to help.

**Raceman** · 07-06-2006, 02:32 PM

There's a rumor from what I consider a credible source that they've got him. Supposedly a girlfriend went to emergency room banged up, and investigators decided to look at hospital records and didn't buy the excuse for the injuries. That contact led to a boat with damage consistent with accident details.

All I can say at this point is, if it's true it made my day. I'll post more details the MINUTE I hear anything else.

**yellowallison** · 07-06-2006, 02:45 PM

SAD DEAL! but least maybe GOOD NEWS!!

what a POC of a person to leave a FAMILY DYING in a lake at NIGHT !!

I think we all agee what they otta do with somone like that!

**Fish** · 07-06-2006, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by Raceman

There's a rumor from what I consider a credible source that they've got him. Supposedly a girlfriend went to emergency room banged up, and investigators decided to look at hospital records and didn't buy the excuse for the injuries. That contact led to a boat with damage consistent with accident details.

All I can say at this point is, if it's true it made my day. I'll post more details the MINUTE I hear anything else.

Thanks for the update raceman, I hope it pans out. Can't bring that poor guy he killed back, but at least the a-hole will have to be accountable for what he did. Hats off to the police for good work too.

**tunnelmike** · 07-06-2006, 02:50 PM

Running over someone is bad in itself..........leaving people dying in the water at night with you being the only help is beyond excusable !! I hope they got their man and she gets pulled in as an accomplice. Mike

**Raceman** · 07-06-2006, 03:46 PM

Local CBS affiliate just ran a cut in on it (details at 11). They said the boat driver was 48 year old Mark (couldn't understand the last name). Ironically he was the same age with the same first name as the victim (if the reporter didn't screw it up).

He's charged with homicide with a vessel, failure to render aid, reckless operation, and another charge or 2. He has also admitted to drinking during the day, but the report said it's unclear whether he was drunk at the time of the accident.

**99fxst99** · 07-06-2006, 09:20 PM

Raceman, please keep the information coming until this is wrapped up. As shown by the hits and responses on this thread there are a lot of us "go-fast" boaters who are horrified by irresponsibility such as this and feel deeply for the persons involved. I think we all hope the man and woman involved are prosecuted ti the fullest extent possible, and that the survivors are able to put their lives back together. Maybe sometime they can see this thread and draw a little strength from its support.

**Raceman** · 07-06-2006, 09:46 PM

The station just ran a follow up at 11, but they screwed up and showed the pontoon boat the victim was on as the one that hit him, so we still don't know what the other boat was.

The guy had 3 other people in the boat with him, and apparently they're all arrested. The news said other charges pending according to Sheriff. They also interviewed the victim's wife and daughter, who gave a horrifying account of hysterically begging the people who hit them to dial 911, at which time they backed up and drove off. The list of charges against the driver is long, and the news said he'd had at least 3 DUI's in the past and has admitted to drinking the day of the accident, but the Sheriff said it would be difficult to prove he was impared at the time of the accident. In any case, he's charged with homicide with a vehicle, so we can only hope they can make it stick. The Sheriff said that the driver had other issues in his past that caused him to be scared and not stay to help, but didn't define them.

I have heard NO MENTION of the fishing tournament in news accounts, and there seems to be nothing to suggest that anybody connected with it was connected with the accident. It would seem obvious that since the boat that caused the wreck had the girlfriend of the driver as well as two other people on board that they weren't likely in a fishing tournament.