Victims of Boating Accident Now Identified

A boating accident on Center Hill Lake Saturday night claimed the life of one person and injured two others.
Dead is 41 year old Robert S. Schafer of Brentwood. Those injured were 36 year old Melinda M. McGee and 35 year old John Carter Collins both of Nashville.
911 received the call at 9:45 p.m.
TWRA Officer Tony Cross told WJLE that the boat, a 22 foot Cobalt runabout, was underway on the lake when it ran aground and overturned, pinning Schafer, the operator, underneath. He died at the scene. The crash occurred about three miles from Hidden Harbor Marina in the Raccoon Hollow area.
“It happened Saturday night between 9:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.” said Officer Cross. “Most folks who are familiar with the lake know about the raccoon hollow area. They have a ski jump. Its been there for a long time in the back of the hollow. The downstream side of the mouth of Raccoon hollow has a shallow point or flat area that comes out. The boat was traveling out in the main channel and, we think, was heading back to a house boat which was back in the hollow where there were a few house boats tied up near each other. We think they (victims) did not see the land there. It wasn’t a high bank or anything. It was just a shallow low lying bank, where you could look across and see the lights on the houseboats. We think they (victims) weren’t familiar enough with the lay of the land there. They started across that point at a pretty high rate of speed. There were several big rocks on the outer portion of the bank there and when the boat hit, it sort of slid around to the side and then flipped once. The two occupants (McGee and Collins) were ejected from the boat and that’s probably what saved their lives. The operator (Schafer) remained in the boat and was pinned underneath. The medical examiner will be able to tell for sure, but we believe (death) was instantaneous. It was very tragic. It was very dark (at the time of the accident) and they didn’t have any headlights on the boat but you’re not supposed to depend on your headlights to run on the water at night anyway. But you do need to be familiar with the area your traveling,” said Officer Cross
The accident remains under investigation by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
The two injured, McGee and Collins were brought by a TWRA boat to one of the ramps near Hidden Harbor Marina, where they were loaded aboard a DeKalb EMS ground ambulance and transported to a helicopter landing zone set up in a field on Hurricane Ridge Road. One of the victims was airlifted by Life Flight and the other by Life Force. They were reportedly flown to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville. Their injuries are not believed to be life threatening.
In addition to the TWRA and DeKalb EMS, others either at the crash scene or at the marina boat ramp rendering assistance were members of the DeKalb County Rescue Squad, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department, DeKalb County Emergency Management Coordinator Charlie Parker, First Responders, among others.