Two people were injured after a jet ski crashed into a bass boat on Percy Priest Lake on Saturday afternoon, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency.
TWRA said 36-year-old Nathaniel Greene and a 4-year-old child were riding a Sea-Doo near the Bryant Grove Boat Ramp in Rutherford County around 3 p.m. when a collision between a Skeeter bass boat and the Sea-Doo.
The crash threw both Green and the child into the water, TWRA said, and witnesses assisted in getting them back to the boat ramp where they were airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center with serious injuries.
“While we’re sitting here, we just hear a big crash,” one eyewitness said.
TWRA District 21 Boating Officer Clay Hetland says the waters at Percy Priest see their fair share of accidents.
“Unfortunately this happens every year,” Hetland said. “Every single year Percy Priest usually leads the state in serious injury or fatality boating incidents.”
Hetland says jet skis can be a lot of fun, but with the abilities boats often don’t have, they can also be a lot more dangerous.
“All of those things mean people are going to operate them in a fast type of way,” Hetland said.
Both adults on the bass boat that collided with the jet ski were uninjured. The 4-year-old was discharged from the hospital on Sunday and Greene remains hospitalized but is stable, TWRA reported.
TWRA officers couldn’t advise if either vessel was in the wrong. They say that’ll be determined when the investigation is complete.
“It was crazy I just never saw something like that,” the eyewitness told us.
For context, in 2022, Percy Priest Reservoir had four deadly boating incidents.
“Out here on the water, it’s meant to be a fun time, people think of it as a fun recreational opportunity,” Hetland said. “But, it can be very, very dangerous.”
While specifics will take some time to unpack, TWRA leaders say alcohol or drugs are not believed to be a factor so far.
Boaters on the water Monday were hopeful the crash serves as a reminder to take extra caution on the water this summer.
“It’s dangerous as all get out and I don’t know how to stop it,” longtime boater John Montgomery said. “Just boater education, talk to people, ask questions to experienced people.”
