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Highlands Today

Friday Drowning Victim Hit By Boat

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By BRAD DICKERSON

Highlands Today

Published: March 24, 2009

SEBRING - A man who drowned late Friday afternoon on Dinner Lake was apparently hit by his boat's propeller.

Gary Morse, public information officer for Florida Fish and Wildlife, said the victim, Richard Boisvert, 51, of 2900 State Road 17 N., fell out of his 12-foot long wooden flat bottom boat, with a 15-horsepower outboard, around 4:45 p.m.

"The boat came back around and hit him," Morse said.
Sebring Police Department, Highlands County Sheriff's Office and West Sebring Fire Department assisted at the scene.

In a separate incident, investigators think a hit-and-run crash at Sebring International Raceway on Saturday could have caused a 48-year-old man to fall from a pickup truck.

Steve D. Griffin was sitting on the truck's tailgate when he fell and hit his head near the midway, according to Deputy J.P. Fane, with the sheriff's office.

"We are currently examining the accident as a possible hit-and-run," Fane said Monday. "We are looking at a Mr. Lee A. Underwood, 43, from Lake Placid, as the driver of the vehicle that fled the scene."

Griffin was taken to Florida Hospital Heartland Division in Sebring before being transferred to Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
Fane said Griffin was set to be released Monday.

"It is my understanding that he is fine," Fane said.

Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at (863) 386-5838 or bdickerson@highlandstoday.com

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