Boat crashes into channel marker; one person dies, nine are injured

by Larry Chowning

A 25-year-old Glen Allen woman died and nine people were seriously injured in a boating accident in the Rappahannock River between Water View and Morattico at about 10:15 p.m. Monday, July 5, according to John Bull, the director of public relations at the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC).

According to published reports, all 10 people on the boat are from the Richmond area.

Bull and Mark Ogle, the Coast Guard commander in charge of search and rescue, gave the following account of the fatal accident during a press conference at Millstone Landing in Water View Tuesday morning.

Steven Nixon, 38, of Montpelier in Hanover County was at the helm of his 2005 model 23-foot Chaparral bow-rider boat with nine passengers, who were family members and friends, when the accident occurred.

The fiberglass boat was traveling about 35 miles per hour when the bow crashed into the center of the lighted Number 10 channel marker in the Rappahannock River.

Earlier in the evening, there were 12 people on the boat. The group had been at Charlie’s Tiki Bar and Grill at Windmill Point Marina, said Bull. They left the bar, went to Grey’s Point at Topping and dropped off two boys whose parents were waiting to pick them up. This left 10 people on the vessel.

Steven Nixon, a captain in the Richmond Fire Department, then proceeded up the river, reportedly heading toward a location near Belle Isle State Park in Lancaster County when the boat struck the channel marker.

Coast Guard officials stated the light on the channel marker was flashing when rescue boats arrived at the crash scene. They said the light flashes every few seconds.

Several of the 10 onboard the boat were thrown into the water. A passenger, Amanda Brady, 25, died from the crash and was found on the bottom of the river Tuesday morning by Coast Guard divers in 18 feet of water—just a few yards from where the accident occurred. Brady was a 5th grade school teacher in the Henrico County Public School System.

Steven Nixon suffered head injuries from crashing head-first into the boat’s console. His wife, Angela Nixon, 38, suffered leg injuries.

Steven Nixon’s 11-year-old son, Zach, suffered the most serious injuries, including severe head trauma. 

Chase Buchanon, 13, had a severe leg injury and Steven Nixon’s cousin, Chris Carnes, 29, was hospitalized for a head injury.

All five of the seriously injured were transported by either helicopter or by local rescue squads to the VCU Medical Center in Richmond.

Bailey Nixon, 10, and MacKenzie Buchanon, 11, were not as severely injured and were transported to Riverside Walter Reed Hospital in Gloucester.

Steven Nixon’s brother, Patrick, 26, and his sister Kelly, 43, were transported to Riverside Tappahannock Hospital.

Bull described the crash “as one of the worst boating accidents in the history of VMRC. No one I’ve talked to remembers one any worse.”

Ogle said that immediately after the accident someone on Nixon’s boat called 911 from their cell phone. “Our volunteer Coast Guard Auxiliary members in that area were the first on the scene,” said Ogle. “They came in and did a great job in one of the worst boating accidents I’ve ever seen.”

Zach Nixon was desperately in need of help, said Ogle. In order to get the boy out of the water safely, a Coast Guard helicopter and crew flew from Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It was equipped with a rescue basket. A diver dropped from the helicopter into the water to assist auxiliary members and others to get the injured boy into the basket.

The boy was flown to an open field next to the Water View Firehouse where he was then taken by another helicopter to the VCU Medical Center.

A total of five helicopters and several rescue squad units from three counties—Middlesex, Essex, and Gloucester—responded.

Working through the night in the rescue effort were 15 VMRC officers, numerous coast guard personnel, officers from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, State Police and members of its dive team, local rescue squad members, firemen, Middlesex Sheriff Guy Abbott and several of his deputies.

Millstone Landing at Water View served as the operations base of the search and rescue effort, and was where the injured were taken for transport to medical facilities.

Ogle and Bull both indicated that everyone involved in the search and rescue did an outstanding job. “It really was a team effort and I can’t thank everyone enough for all their help,” said Ogle.

All four children under age 13 were wearing life jackets and “that very well may have saved some lives,” said Bull. None of the adults was wearing a life jacket, he added.

Bull noted the boat had the appropriate number of life jackets.

Alcohol appears to have been a factor. “We know alcohol was involved and we have had the [boat] driver’s blood tested,” said Bull. “When we arrived, there were empty beer cans floating in the boat and all around it in the water.”

The heavily-damaged boat was confiscated and taken to Newport News, where it will be examined and used as evidence if legal action is required. “When we get all of our information together we will turn it over to the Lancaster Commonwealth’s Attorney,” Bull said.

“This is a real tragedy and it should be a lesson for people,” said Ogle.  “You have to treat the water with respect because it can kill you.

“What made this so hard were the children,” said Ogle. “It’s really hard when you are dealing with children and they are hurting. Then you have the loss of a 25-year-old.”

Ogle paused and shook his head. “He hit that marker dead center. Think of the odds of that happening. What a horrible, unlucky night!”

Update

On Wednesday morning, Bull reported that VMRC agents were scheduled to interview the owner of Charlie’s Tiki Bar and Grill at Windmill Point and acquire sales receipts to determine what alcoholic beverages the group on the boat may have purchased there.

Through a search warrant, VMRC is obtaining the blood alcohol results from the hospital where boat operator Steven Nixon is a patient. His blood is being examined to determine if he was impaired by alcohol, said Bull.

Bull said he hopes the state medical examiner can give “at least” a tentative cause for Amanda Brady’s death, and VMRC officers are attempting to interview those on the boat who were not interviewed earlier.

As of 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Bull did not have an update on the medical condition of those injured in the crash.

posted 07.07.2010

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