A Byrnes Mill man was killed Saturday, Aug. 20, in a boating accident on the Lake of the Ozarks in which three others were injured. The driver of the boat was arrested by the Missouri State Highway Patrol on suspicion of boating while intoxicated.
The Highway Patrol reported that a 63-year-old man from Edwards was driving a 2004 Four Winns boat on the Lake of the Ozarks near the 69-mile mark of the main channel at 9:10 p.m. when he failed to keep a proper lookout and the boat struck a rock bluff.
A passenger in the boat, Thomas McKown, 58, of Byrnes Mill, was pronounced dead at 1:51 a.m.
The driver and two other passengers – James A. McKown, 36, of Smithville and James E. McKown, 64, of Excelsior Springs – all suffered moderate injuries and all were taken to Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach, the report said.
Reports on their conditions were not available.
None of the men involved in the accident were wearing safety vests, the report said.
The driver of the boat was arrested by the Highway Patrol on suspicion of boating while intoxicated and causing the death of another, a felony, and operating a watercraft in a careless and imprudent manner, resulting in a crash, a misdemeanor.
He will not be named unless he is charged with a crime by the Morgan County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
The boat was totaled, according to the report.