Authorities have not been successful in locating a man who was on a boat that capsized in the Green River Wednesday night.
Henderson County Office of Emergency Management Director Kenny Garrett said at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday that searchers have not had any strong leads as they looked for Hasani Carter all day.
Carter was one of four people on a boat in the Green River Wednesday night when it capsized at about 9:45 p.m. Garrett said that occurred at about ½ mile upstream from the Spottsville dam.
Three of the men on the boat made it to shore Wednesday night.
Garrett said authorities used three different drones all day Thursday, searching both the water and the fields nearby but they didn’t spot anything. He also said that searchers used a man-tracking dog near where the capsize occurred, but the dog didn’t get a hit on anything.
Garrett said that authorities did recover the boat on Thursday.
There were four boats on the water Thursday assisting with the search—one from the Evansville Police Department, one from Kentucky Fish & Wildlife, one from Henderson Fire Department and one from the Henderson City-County Rescue Squad, Garrett said.
Garrett said the effort was scheduled to pause at dusk on Thursday and resume again Friday morning.
Meanwhile, the man who deputies determined was driving the boat was arrested Wednesday evening and charged with operating a watercraft while intoxicated or under the influence, said Henderson County Sheriff Chip Stauffer.
Samuel Keene, 19, was charged. According to a citation from the sheriff’s office, Keene first told deputies that he hadn’t been drinking.
Deputies then performed field tests, some of which Keene failed, according to the citation. Keene was asked again if he had been drinking to which he responded that he had drunk a couple alcohol seltzer drinks.
After being transported to Henderson County Detention Center, he blew a 0.064 on a breathalyzer, which is below the legal limit, said the citation. But the legal limit for a person under 21 for boating under the influence is 0.002, and Keene was charged with that, said the citation.
