A collision between a personal watercraft and a pontoon at Black Hawk Lake near Lake View this past weekend sent two teenagers to the hospital.
According to information from the Iowa DNR, the incident took place shortly after 3:15 Sunday afternoon on the north side of the lake. 75-year-old Charles Lierman of Ankeny was operating the pontoon, traveling at approximately 15-miles-per-hour. He was pulling three grandkids on the tube. Lierman was in the process of making a sweeping left turn when he saw the personal watercraft coming from his left. The personal watercraft was traveling at approximately 40-miles-per-hour, and it collided with the pontoon.
The operator of the personal watercraft, 16-year-old Averie Thometz of Harlan, and a passenger, 17-year-old Dakota Goede of Harlan, were ejected. They both hit the pontoon and metal skirting. They were helped aboard the pontoon by the tubers, and were taken to shore for medical assistance.
Thometz and Goede were transported by ambulance to the Loring Hospital in Sac City. Thometz was later taken to Omaha for surgery to repair a lower leg fracture. The incident remains under investigation.
