TWRA: Child Struck by Boat Propeller on Douglas Lake

A four-year-old child was seriously injured after being struck by a boat propeller during a boating incident on Douglas Lake Sunday afternoon.

According to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Bill Thomas Wardlow Jr., 44, of Sevierville, was swimming near points 12 and 13 with three children under eight years old at about 3 p.m. on June 30, 2019. The wind began to separate their rented pontoon boat from them. Onboard the boat, Starsha Lynn Tuley, 28, of Knoxville, started the engine and drove toward the swimmers in an attempt to pick them up and that is when Wardlow’s four-year-old son was struck in his upper left arm and shoulder by the propeller.

TWRA Boating Enforcement Officer Chase Rich said the boy was life flighted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center with serious injuries.

The incident is under investigation by TWRA.