Alcohol a factor in 4 having to be rescued from Lake Erie breakwall

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - There were three to five foot waves Saturday night when a boater ended up on the break wall between Edgewater Park and the E. 55th Street Marina.

“Seems like he hit the lower level of rocks which just propelled him to elevate to the top,” Captain Dan Saksa with Cleveland Marine told 19 News.

The Captain surmised the boater did not realize the break wall was there. “It’s not lit right there,” he said.

Four people were on board the boat and it did not appear they were wearing life jackets at the time of the crash.

The heavily damaged boat will take several hours to get off the rocks.

“Looks like it’s pretty damaged. It’s hard to tell without getting under the hull. It looks like it’s definitely going to be severe hull damage which is probably going to create a lot of water if you try and pull them back in the water, probably going to sink,” Saksa said.

The Coast Guard told 19 News that the driver of the boat was with driving under the influence. The driver of the boat had a blood alcohol level of .19, according to the Coast Guard.

“I’m pretty sure he looked at the wrong lights to end up where he’s at. Had he looked a little left he would have seen these lights,” Raphael Cruz, a frequent boater on the lake told 19 News. “Because (the) two lights are too close, I’ve made that mistake several times.”

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