Man injures head on boat propeller in OC

• Seven friends partied on a rented pontoon boat when one of them jumped off
• Victim suffered severe lacerations on boat propeller
• Charges of drunken boating are pending the results of a blood test for the boat operator

A 26-year-old man suffered severe head and neck injuries from a propeller after jumping off a boat, police said.

The incident happened June 30 in Isle of Wight Bay off 32nd Street in Ocean City, at around 5 p.m. Seven friends were out on a rented 22-foot pontoon boat, according to Candus Thomson, spokeswoman for the Maryland Natural Resources Police.

The victim was John Scott Hauf of Sykesville, Md. While on their way to a bar, Hauf reportedly jumped off the bow of the boat before the operator could stop, Thomson said. While in the water, he was struck by the propeller and suffered lacerations to his shoulders, neck, and back of his head.

His friends pulled him aboard and gave him first aid, then they headed to Bahia Marina at 22nd Street bayside in Ocean City. Ocean City paramedics transported Hauf to Peninsula Regoinal Medical Center in critical condition. He was then transported to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, where he's now in stable condition, Thomson said.

The operator of the boat, Kurt Steven Dawson, 30, of Frederick, Md., failed a field sobriety test. Charges are pending the outcome of a blood test, Thomson said.

The incident falls one day after "Operation Dry Water," a June 28-29 weekend enforcement where Natural Resources Police officers were out on state waterways looking for drunken boaters. Thomson said they wrote tickets, talked to boaters about safety, and did about 1,000 vessel checks for items such as life jackets or fire extinguishers. Last year, the initiative yielded 206 statewide arrests for drunken boating, she said.

Thomson called Operation Dry Water a "dress rehearsal" for the busy Fourth of July weekend.

"This is really the period when the boating season ramps up. We're hoping we touched enough people last weekend that we cut down on the number of encounters we had with the public that end badly," she said.

bshane@dmg.gannett.com

410-213-9442, ext. 17

On Twitter @bwshane