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1 Dead, 1 Arrested After 2-Boat Crash

TWRA Official Says Driver Of Bass Boat Had Been Drinking

POSTED: 8:32 am CDT July 3, 2009
UPDATED: 6:27 pm CDT July 3, 2009

Emergency teams were investigating a deadly crash Thursday night on Kentucky Lake involving two boats.

A bass boat and a pontoon boat, which had seven people on it, collided near Paris Landing in Henry County at about 6 p.m. Jeffrey Adams of Murfreesboro was driving his family members on the pontoon boat near Pace Point.

An official with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said 47-year-old Sandra Renae Adams, who was in the pontoon boat driven by her husband, died of multiple blunt force trauma.

The couple's 16-year-old daughter Megan was injured and airlifted to Vanderbilt Medical Center. She was in stable condition as of Friday afternoon.

The bass boat, driven by 37-year-old David Phelps of Woodlawn, hit the pontoon boat at 40 mph, went over it and landed on the other side. Phelps and his dog were still in the boat when it landed.

"He said he was distracted by, he was watching two other boats going in the opposite direction," said Officer Clay Riley of TWRA. "He was watching them to avoid them, He said this other pontoon boat just appeared, and he had a collision with them."

Officials said the pontoon boat had the right of way.

Phelps had apparently been drinking, a TWRA official said, and has been arrested and charged with BWI. Other charges are pending as the investigation continues.

"They need to treat boating drinking just like they do driving under the influence," said boater Max Jones.

Officers said they were told Phelps had quit drinking for years after a drinking problem and just started again Monday.

Sandra Renae Adams was a nursing supervisor at a Murfreesboro nursing home and a volunteer at Franklin Road Baptist Church.

David Phelps
David Phelps

Man Falls From Dock, Drowns

A few miles from the boat collision, a man died after falling off a boat dock and drowning.

At about 1 a.m. Friday, Tommy Betts Jr. of Milan fell off a boat dock at Cyprus Bay Resort. His body was found three hours later.

A Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency official said friends told officers the 43-year-old man had been drinking.

Reporter Sara Dorsey contributed to this story.

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