DANDRIDGE, Tenn. — A 4-year-old child has been seriously injured after being struck by a boat propeller during a boating incident on Douglas lake on Sunday afternoon, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
TWRA Boating Enforcement Officer Chase Rich reported that around 3 p.m. Saturday, Bill Thomas Wardlow Jr., 44, of Sevierville, was swimming with three children under the age of eight years old near points 12 and 13 when the wind began to separate a rented pontoon boat from them.
Onboard the boat, officials said Starsha Lynn Tuley, 28, of Knoxville, started the engine and drove toward the swimmers in an attempt to pick them up when Wardlow’s 4-year-old son was struck in his upper left arm and shoulder by the propeller.
The boy has been airlifted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center with serious injuries, TWRA said.
The incident is under investigation by TWRA.