NORTHAMPTON — Police are continuing a search in the Oxbow section of the Connecticut River on Wednesday but say they have no evidence so far to support that a person is missing in the water following reports by witnesses that a swimmer was struck by a boat a day earlier.
Several boats and a dive team were out searching the water Tuesday afternoon after the Northampton Police Department received a call of a boat running over a swimmer. Northampton Detective Lt. Craig Kirouac said Wednesday that police believe the boat hit something in the water, but that their investigation and search has so far yielded no evidence that a particular person is missing in the river. Kirouac said police are investigating what the boat might have hit.
Kirouac said police resumed their search of the water at 7 a.m. “out of an abundance of caution” as there’s still a possibility that someone could be in the water, but he added that no one has been reported missing. The driver of the boat in question has been cooperative with police, Kirouac said.
Two eyewitnesses to the incident told the Gazette and police that they saw a boat strike what they believed was a lone swimmer around 3 p.m. Tuesday. They reported that the person had been the water for 20 or 30 minutes.
Michael Connors can be reached at mconnors@gazettenet.com.