Family Of Man, Missing After Boating Accident On Lake Eufaula, Speaks Out

The family of a missing Oklahoma City boater who was thrown overboard in a hit-and-run on Lake Eufaula is speaking out Saturday night.

Saturday, July 6th 2013, 11:12 pm

By: News 9


The family of a missing Oklahoma City boater who was thrown overboard in a hit-and-run on Lake Eufaula is speaking out Saturday night.

It happened as the family was watching fireworks on the 4th of July.

"We know somebody's out there that can help us," Tonia Foster said.

Tonia Foster and Tacy Madden want to know why a horrible accident on the lake happened, sending their dad Gary McIninch overboard. He's been missing since it happened on July 4.

"They were out on the lake watching fireworks. They were fixing to go in, unwrap and go in when they heard a boat coming after them, you know, revving up coming at them really fast," said Foster.

Foster's daughters were both injured when the on-coming boat smashed into the family's pontoon boat. One of her daughters is still recovering at Children's Hospital. She suffered a broken femur, but it was a split-second decision by McIninch that saved his granddaughters' lives.

07/05/2013 Related Story: Authorities Search For Man Missing After Boat Crash On Lake Eufaula

"Whenever dad heard the boat coming he just tossed, pushed my girls back as far as he could and whenever the boat came up, it ended up taking out my dad and lost him in the water," said Foster. "And they said that the boat guy came back around asking if anybody was okay or hurt or anything like that. And then once he heard the police was going to be called, he took off."

That's what upsets this family the most is the fact that the person responsible for this crash just left.

"There is a 20 foot ski boat that was on Eufaula. The description is that the dark color and a light color. It was 10 o'clock at night and it ran over two boats and it needs to be found so we can come find out why this happened," said Madden.

They assume the other boat involved has heavy damage to the front and bottom of it, and ask anyone who knows anything to come forward.

"There's got to be video. There's got to be pictures. That people from Eufaula that can help us figure out who did this to where we can get justice taken care of because this is not fair, this is not right," said Madden.

Until they get the answers they want, they're left trying to talk their children through what exactly happened.

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