A 20-foot pontoon boat with 12 persons on board struck the steel floodgate structure of the Lake Gaston Dam at approximately 1:30 a.m., July 4. The pontoon boat was moving fast enough to force its way up onto the floodgate. It became wedged between the top of the floodgate and the steel structure supporting it.

North Carolina Wildlife Officer, Sgt. Carl Hatcher reported that although all passengers remained on the boat, four were injured and transported to Halifax Regional Medical Center where they were treated for injuries and released.

The operator of the boat, Anthony Angelo Pitrelli, age 23 of Burke, Va., was arrested and charged with operating a vessel on the waters of the State of North Carolina while under the influence of an impairing substance.
According to Sgt. Hatcher, it appeared that most of the passengers as well as the operator were impaired.

The passengers and the operator believed that they were traveling west on the lake and were about to go under the Eaton's Ferry Bridge when they hit the dam.
The dam suffered minimal damage but the boat suffered major damage.

Along with Sgt. Hatcher, N.C. Wildlife Officers, Patrick Browne, Sam Craft and Daniel Terrill investigated the accident.
The investigation took well into the early morning hours of July 4 and Sgt. Hatcher expressed his thanks to Halifax County, N.C. Sheriff Deputy, Chris High, the Halifax County, N.C. Emergency Management System and the Littleton Fire Department.

Hatcher said, "I would like to also thank the Halifax County 911 Emergency Dispatchers for their outstanding jobs in determining where and what was going on."
An earlier boating accident occurred at 8:40 p.m. on July 3 when an 18-foot Renken operated by James "Jimmy" Tony Lewis Jr. of Tarboro, N.C., struck a pier at the Outdoor World Campground. The boat was carrying six passengers and the operator was attempting to approach the pier to allow his wife to board the boat.
The N.C. Wildlife Officers' investigation determined that the throttle and gear linkage was broken and bent and the throttle was not mounted properly on the vessel. No one was injured in the crash and the boat and pier both suffered minor damage.
During the 24-hours covering the period from noon on July 3 to noon on July 4, the NCWL Officers issued 15 boating citations including seven for nighttime boating violations, 15 boating warnings, three OUIs, investigated two boating accidents and issued numerous verbal warnings to operators under the age of 26 who were not in compliance with the new boating education safety requirements.
The three persons charged with operating under the influence were taken into custody.
N.C. Wildlife had four officers working on Lake Gaston with two boats during the holiday period.
Boating accident and arrest information from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was not available at press time.

Reprinted with permission from Lake Gaston Gazette-Observer