Authorities are still investigating a fatal boat collision on the Tickfaw River that occurred on Sunday leaving 31-year-old Thuy Gustin of Springfield and 36-year-old Chase Sharkey of Greensburg dead and six injured. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents, along with local law enforcement, are leading the investigation to determine the cause of the collision.
“Boating accidents take a while to investigate because it’s not like on the road where you have skid marks, yaw marks and all those kinds of things,” LDWF Sgt Randy Lanoux said.
Lanoux says it seems both boats were traveling at a moderate speed.
“Both boats did have running lights like you’re supposed to. We do know that both boats saw each other prior to the collision and were taking action.”
Authorities continue to gather evidence and interview witnesses. Lanoux says boating accidents can take weeks to investigate due to the time it takes to reconstruct the accident and process forensics.
“We’re going to do toxicology on both drivers that’s the law. To say whether5 or not we expect impairment is a factor right now…its always investigated as a factor. Could it be a factor, could it not be. We don’t know enough at this point to really say.”
No one was wearing a personal flotation device at the time of the collision.
Lanoux says to stay alert on the water, especially during the busy summer months when recreational boating activity peaks.
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