A powerboat ran aground at Arrow Point on Catalina Island on Monday night, Jan. 27, according to Capt. Doug Fetteroll, commander of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Station in Avalon.
There were three men aboard the boat and all three were injured, two of them seriously, according to Inspector Scott Miller, a public information officer for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Fetteroll said the Sheriff’s Department would investigate the cause of the crash.
A powerboat ran aground at Arrow Point on Catalina Island on Monday night, Jan. 27, according to Capt. Doug Fetteroll, commander of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Station in Avalon.
There were three men aboard the boat and all three were injured, two of them seriously, according to Inspector Scott Miller, a public information officer for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Fetteroll said the Sheriff’s Department would investigate the cause of the crash.
“On January 27, 2014, at approximately 1900 hours (7 p.m.), three adult men in a power boat ran aground at Arrow Point on Catalina Island. Arrow Point is approximately 3 miles west of the Isthmus,” Fetteroll said in a Tuesday, Jan. 28, email to the Catalina Islander.
Baywatch Avalon paramedics were the first to respond, according to Fetteroll.
“The three men were treated at the scene by Baywatch paramedics and then airlifted to hospitals on the mainland,” Fetteroll said Tuesday.
Inspector Miller said the county fire agency got the call at 7:07 p.m. He said all three patients were flown to the mainland for treatment.
The Fire Department does not release the names of patients.
However, news reports have identified all three men: Pastor Bayless Conley of Cottonwood Church; Pastor Jeff Perry of St. Lewis Family Church, Chesterfield, Mo.; and Keith Johnson, who is apparently a friend of Conley’s.
Conley was reportedly in critical condition when he arrived at the hospital.
The Cottonwood Church posted news about his condition on both the church website and the church’s Facebook page on Tuesday, Jan. 28:
“Pastor Bayless underwent surgery that went very well, according to his Doctors. We know you love and care for Pastor Bayless, Janet and the Conley family,” the message said.
The Los Alamitos-based church where Conley and his wife are both pastors held a special service for Bayless Conley during the regular Wednesday evening service.
“This appears to have been a very unfortunate accident and the men on the boat were fortunate to have received medical care and treatment from some of the best paramedics, I have ever worked around,” said Capt. Fetteroll.
