John Jefferson
A Florida man is dead after he got caught in a boat propeller during a fishing trip with a friend off the Sunshine State’s west coast.
The tragic incident took place at around 11:40 a.m. on Wednesday approximately two miles north of the Dunedin Causeway in the Intercoastal Waterway, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said.
Charles Barnes, 66, was out fishing with his friend, William Coughenour, near Three Rooker Island on Coughenour’s 17-foot Key West boat.
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Barnes was reportedly sitting at the front of the boat on top of a cooler while Coughenour was driving.
When Coughenour took his hand off the steering wheel to fix a fishing pole, the boat “pulled a hard right” and sent both men flying into the water, the sheriff’s office said.
While Coughenour was able to swim back to the boat, Barnes ended up getting run over by the vessel. He was pulled underwater after his right arm got caught in the motor’s propellers.
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Coughenour, who flagged down other boaters for help, tried to get Barnes out of the water, but was unable to.
When first responders arrived, Barnes was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Through the course of the investigation, deputies determined nothing suspicious was observed and impairment was not a factor in the incident,” the sheriff’s office said.
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