Document text
Boat accident on freeway puts man in hospital By Mark Freeman All James Bentley wanted was to take his wife, Margie, for a little shopping and lunch at Hometown Buffet in Medford for her 67th birthday. But a wayward ski boat changed all that Monday morning at an unlikely spot � Interstate 5�s northbound gravel shoulder in Ashland. A loose waterskiing boat flew off a trailer and struck Bentley, 71, of Callahan, Calif., while he was standing on the I-5 shoulder after changing seats with Margie in the couple�s parked pickup, police said. The mishap occurred about 11 a.m. Bentley suffered a broken right leg and hip, but no dents to his sense of humor. "He laughed," Margie Bentley said, "and said, �Boy, this is something � getting run over by a boat on dry land.� He�s a tough old bird." Oregon State Police Trooper Joshua Quick said the boat was just a few inches from triggering a different kind of wake. "If he would have been another foot out to the side, I think we�d have a different kind of story," Quick said. "The prop would have gone through him like butter." The Bentleys were heading north on I-5 in their 1985 Toyota pickup from Callahan, a turn-out on Highway 3 near Etna, for shopping at Fred Meyer and dining at Hometown Buffet. James Bentley likes to drive on the highway but not in town, so he pulled to the shoulder near milepost 18 so Margie Bentley could take the wheel. As Jim Bentley walked from the driver�s side to the passenger door and took a drag on a cigarette, Christy Kay George, 29, of John Day, was driving north in her pickup towing a 17-foot Schiata ski boat she had just bought, police said. The boat trailer somehow dislodged from the truck�s hitch, Quick said. As it careened off the roadway, the trailer tongue embedded in a culvert about 10 feet behind the Bentleys� truck. The momentum broke the boat free, clipping Bentley in the hip before it traveled another 80 feet and stopped, Quick said. "He said he just heard a roar," Margie Bentley said. "I didn�t hear anything. I just saw the boat go by." A passerby called police and rescue crews. Bentley was wisked to Rogue Valley Medical Center, where surgeons inserted a steel rod into his leg Monday night. Quick cited George for violating Oregon�s towing-safety requirements because the safety chains failed to keep her boat trailer fastened to the pickup. Bentley was in fair condition Monday, but left a fairly tough impression on his rescuers. "It�s amazing that the accident happened, and even more amazing that he wasn�t hurt worse," firefighter Bob Holt said. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA