Prop cuts her arm off !
 

Posted On: May 30, 2008 by The Farber Law Group
Spokane, Washington man charged after boat accident on Newman Lake severs wife's arm
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that a Spokane man has been charged with felony assault by watercraft after a boating accident on Newman Lake severed his wife's arm below the elbow. Robert Kienel, age 27, was operating a 20-foot Quantum Bow-Rider ski boat and his wife, Alana Kienel was riding in the bow. When Robert Kienel made a sharp turn at approximately 35 mph, Alana Kienel was thrown off the boat and the boat's propeller severed her arm. Her arm was not recovered.

The charges against Robert Kienel stem from the fact that he may have been intoxicated at the time of the accident. The Spokane County Sheriff's department said that they found beer and wine containers on the boat's floor and Kienel's blood was tested for alcohol at the Spokane Valley Medical Center. Assault by watercraft is a Class C felony in the State of Washington. A Class C felony carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Sentencing is based on the seriousness and the offender's "score" based on any prior convictions.

In Washington State, it is also illegal to ride in the bow of a boat, a practice called "bow riding."

This information was brought to you by Washington Injury Attorney, a service of The Farber Law Group. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a boating accident, you should contact a personal injury attorney. We have more than 30 years of experience in the Pacific Northwest representing people who have been seriously injured or killed in boating accidents.

Yup- hard to escape our reputation of "Rednecks" around here with national news like that- got to feel sorry for his wife.:(

Very Sad to hear something like this.

Although this was an incident with a moving boat , this is a great reminder that the back of the boat has a lot of very hazardous objects attached. Please Please remember this when your boating this summer. The transom is not the place to "hang out".

Safe boating!

Julie

got run over by twin clevers 21 years ago with the scars on my back to prove it. Not much fun

Ouch...

WHAT? Holy $hit! I gotta see them....Key West....November:party-smiley-004:

:confused: With the popularity of bow rider boats, I find this hard to believe.

Michael

My guess is that she was riding on the bow. Not a bow rider. Not sure if this is the case.

That is one hell of a price to pay. Very sad.

One of the saddest parts of this tragedy is the rabid vulture secretly jumping up and down cheering this terrible accident and planning his next windfall profit

I agree Andy--Looks like this law firm used this tragedy for advertisement purposes.
Jay

WOW very sad indeed, I do wonder if she was "riding on the bow" or bow riding???? I saw 5 boats this weekend with kids riding up on the bow, legs under the rail, arms over the rail this weekend. takes one slip and can be very bad.

I hate to say this but if she was riding on the bow, doesn't she bear some personal responsibility?? I guess what I am getting at is if she was actually breaking the law, why was he charged??

Very sad either way:(

I would guess Maritime law comes into play, as operater of the craft I beleive your held responsible for actions of all on board.

i put one of these on my kids 13 whaler just this past weekend

The article said the boat was a bow rider and she was riding IN the bow. That is very common in ski boats, we have a Malibu bow rider, which means the bow is open and you have seats in it, so it would be hard to be on the top of the bow. I can't believe it would be against policy to sit there, the west coast is full of open bow boats. It is also not uncommon to ski 32-35 MPH and if you are pulling a skier no one can sit on back bolster, so we almost always have someone sitting in the bow. I can see how this can happen, many ski boats are extremely flat to the water, often the driver can drag his hand along the top of the water from a seated position, that tells you how low the sides are. Ski boats are also designed to turn on a dime, I remember that was part of the demo when we bought the boat, the salesguys was doing donuts showing us how stable the boat was in quick fast turns. So if the driver suddenly hooks a turn, and you are not paying attention and sitting in a bow with low sides, I can see how easy it might be to get tossed. This is sad, but she is lucky to have only lost an arm, basically he ran over her since the prop is underneath the boat quite a ways. This will definitely make me think more about bow safety in our ski boat.

here is a news link with video:

http://www.khq.com/Global/story.asp?S=8392580

She was on top of the bow and all 3 people on the boat were drinking.

Here is only Quantum 20 boat I could find,
http://www.boattrader.com/listing/19...N-Ski-92460112

Yes it looks like she probably was riding in the bow, even though I would say it was not intened to be ridden on. Its a fish and Ski and looks like the bow is the Fish part, not nothing to hold onto and very shallow freeboard??? Very sad.:(

The scars will still be there !!

I have great shark bite stories that I tell the women in the bars. It gets them going everytime

very strange bow set up on that boat, I am not sure if they are all like the one in the ad but it certainly does not look like a very safe place to lay unless you were moored. I wonder if the boat company is out of business, I could not find them on the net, just a sail boat company. I would be interested to see if they advertised this as a bow rider

Years ago I was tied up with a group of boaters in the Basset Channel off Lk. St. Clair and we were all on our swim platforms drinking and dancing. One guy fell off and onto one of those old Mercury TRS cleavers. it cut him from his ankle to his knee about an inch deep. It looked like someone gutted a fish. We got on the radio to the coast guard while the other boat took him to the station a couple miles away. An ambulance was waiting for him and they got him to the hospital before he bled to death. He got over 400 stitches in 3 layers. Those props are sharp. Be carefull around them. Sorry about the poor woman.

Otis, I want to see those scars too. :cool-smiley-027:

On December 30, 2005 on our second day of our 11 day vacation while is the BVI’s, I was snorkeling in a protected dive area with a dive flag displayed; I was run over a drunk guy who was a German boat captain in his 12’ rigid inflatable hull. The skeg of the outboard impacted me directly centered in my forehead and then the prop hit me twice and cut into my skull and once on my back as the boat continued directly overtop of me. I was left with over 14” of laceration over my skull and a 6” gash on my right rear shoulder and a torn muscle in my shoulder. I was not knocked out and I maintained consciousness the entire time. If all of that wasn’t bad enough, when they tried to sew me up in the hospital in Tortola, BVI they had no Lidocane and they used what looked like “yarn” for suturey. The stitches were so bad that they had to all be cut out and removed the next day on the balcony of my hotel by my best friend (who happened to be an ex-trauma surgeon) who was with us for the trip to the BVI’s. Oh, and he happened to travel with his own Suture Kit and had Lidocane too… So while sitting in a chair on the balcony of my hotel, with my girlfriend Laura at my side acting as his nurse, my buddy cut out and redid all of the stitches in my head or at least until he ran out of thread. And thanks to him, I did not scar very badly at all.
And so you ask what happened to the German guy who ran me over? Well he was arrested, charged with reckless operation of a vessel that caused injury and was given a $500 fine and released! You gotta love the Law in “International Waters”…

But, I did get to keep my life… So that was WAY COOL!!!

Care to see: http://www.benhedrick.com/accident.htm

So believe me, I feel for this girl… Props HURT!!!

WOW!!!!! Sweet pics Ben! I mean...sorry it happend to ya but SWEET PICS! I'm not trying to be insensitive here....you get what i'm sayin.

No problem. I wear my scars proudly and I say; "Haircut, by Mercury..."

Ben

Lesson learned the hard way on my boat by a friend this past weekend. Nobody believes cleaver props are that sharp till they learn the hard way.

Holy $hit!!!:eek:

Once again...Holy $hit!!:eek:

You should have a shirt made. :drink: It's good that you can have a sense of humor about it.

So glad you are OK - you are very lucky to be alive!:eek:

Thanks! And if nothing else it has taught me that; "life is short, play like there is no tomorrow... But, watch out for thoses idiots that try and make sure that it there might be no tomorrow..."

Ben

Ben,
You are very lucky to be alive. Glad to see you are so upbeat about it. I'm sure have heard this before, but I have to say it. You should alter your name just a little.
From... Ben Hedrick
To........Been Headwrecked
Take care buddy and God bless

That's a GOOD ONE!!! :eek:

Unreal story, glad you made it. Very impressed with the pictures.. I'm an x special ops and that s#!t still looks impressive - good work by your buddy!

Thankfully she wasn't killed! In 1978 a high school classmate of mine was riding on the bow of a ski boat only I think he may have been sitting on the edge. As they were attempting to pull up a skier the skier suddenly fell and the boat immediately lunged forward and John lost his balance and fell over board. Unfortunately, his head was hit by the prop and it killed him.

Ironically, John was something like 12th in the World in the "Butterfly Stroke" and was being eyed for the U.S. Olympic Swim Team. He still holds the High School record since 1977 at the St. Joseph High School in St. Joseph, Michigan. A memorial plaque with his picture and some writings about his life has been hung on the wall in the school's pool room. (I cannot remember the correct word for the pool room---???)

A guy almost got killed by a prop in Muscamoot bay in Lake St. Clair not last weekend but the weekend before. They were pulling the boat into deeper water, one guy in front one guy in back, the boat was either idling in neutral or someone on the boat started it, then someone accidently bumped it into reverse. Cut the guys femoral artery, he was airlifted to the hospital and survived, but the last story I read wasn't clear on whether he'd lose his leg or not, it was still up in the air. They say 10 minutes more delay and he'd have been done, luckily an off-duty sheriff and a nurse knew what to do in the meantime to save his life.

Wow, How dumb can you get. In the water next to the boat and the motor is running. Sorry that that guy had to get hurt.

In the water BEHIND the boat. Even worse.

I see it every weekend. Boats tie off in two long lines, back to back, and the "gauntlet" is in the middle, where the party is at. People start their engines to recharge their batteries or to just show off, and there are people all over behind them.

Years back, a guy i had met met through a good friend that lives in Tampa was boating with his wife on a lake down there...alcohol was involved and during their trip the guy decided to take a VERY sharp turn. I've been on the boat with this idiot before when he has done it....turns it sharp enough that it feels like the water will spill into the boat over the back corners!!! anyway the boat hooked....both were ejected into the water...no lanyard...boat comes back around and hit the wife and kills her...now live with that for the rest of your life!!! Sad thing is he has not changed one bit as far as i know...still drinks and is just as stupid... :(

I see idiotic things like this all the time. In Pa. you are allowed to sit on the bow if there is a bow rail. I would never let anyone do this but there are plenty of people that allow their kids to sit up there while bouncing through the waves. I also tell people not to jump in the water directly behind the boat because of the prop. Ive seen a few nice cuts from those over the years.

I just saw a ski boat with a bunch of teenagers and adults idleling through the channel and one of the kids (15-16) must of been hot and lowers himself off the back of the boat and drags along holding on to the ladder with no life jacket on. Now I think it was an inboard or v-drive and that prop could not have been more that a foot or less from him. Not to mention it is a very busy channel with many boats. If that kid fell off or the driver stopped the boat in a hurry, we would have been reading about him on this forum. No telling what would have been cut or chopped off.

riding the bow means that she was standing on the bow when this the man made the turn...or she was sitting in the bow of the boat...?

bow-riding...highly illegal