Photo courtesy of the New Jersey State Police - ALEX MAJORSeobernauer@njherald.com
SPARTA, NEW JERSEY
Police have confirmed the arrest of a 21-year-old township resident who was involved in a hit-and-run boating accident on Lake Mohawk shortly after midnight Sunday that injured five people and sent three of them to the hospital, including the twin daughters of Police Chief Ernest Reigstad.
Police are seeking a witness to the accident, a young, white male, who was in the boat driven by Alex Majors, 21, of Sparta. Multiple witnesses saw the second person in the boat, according to Sparta Police.
Majors was arrested late Sunday and was charged with five counts of endangering an injured victim, leaving the scene of a vessel accident with serious bodily injury, fourth-degree assault by vessel, and four counts of disorderly conduct, according to an official statement by the New Jersey State Police.
He was lodged at the Sussex County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Among the injured were Alexa and Brianna Reigstad, 23, and James Glasson, 24, all of Sparta.
Alina Spies, a spokesperson for the State Police, said the three sustained concussions when the errant vessel driven by Majors crashed into the pontoon boat where they were on board early Sunday, knocking all three of them into the water.
One of them, Alexa Reigstad, was knocked unconscious and reportedly nearly drowned, according to Sparta Police Lt. John Paul Beebe.
All three were transported to Morristown Medical Center for treatment.
Also on board with them and injured at the time of the crash were 23-year-old Sparta residents Ian Campbell and James Carney, both of whom declined treatment.
By the time officers from the New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau were called to the scene, Majors had reportedly fled the site of the crash.
He was arrested Sunday afternoon after Sparta police began combing the area around Lake Mohawk and located a 2014 Nautilus fiberglass vessel with what appeared to be fresh damage to its hull.
Sparta police later spoke with the owner of the watercraft, who indicated he had lent it to Majors.
Spies declined to say if alcohol was believed to be a factor in the crash, saying only that it remained under investigation.
None of the injuries sustained was believed to be life-threatening, according to Spies.
However, the injuries to Alexa Reigstad were deemed serious enough that she was flown to Morristown Medical Center shortly after the accident was reported early Sunday. Brianna Reigstad and James Glasson both were taken there by ambulance and released later Sunday, but Alexa Reigstad was kept at the hospital overnight.
Her father, Police Chief Ernest Reigstad, and his wife, Cindy, both remained there with her overnight and into Monday, according to Beebe.
Beebe, while declining to comment on the investigation itself, provided some detail on Alexa Reigstad's injuries and said she apparently hit her head at the time of the crash.
“How Alexa hit her head, we don't know,” Beebe said Monday. “What we know is that she suffered a concussion, was knocked unconscious, she suffered some lacerations, abrasions and contusions, and was treated for a near-drowning incident ... and currently she's still at Morristown Hospital.”
Beebe said her condition, while still serious, was improving and that she was expected to be released from the hospital Monday evening.
“I spoke to (Chief Reigstad) earlier today, and he wants to thank everybody for their prayers and outpouring of good wishes,” Beebe said. “He appreciates their kind thoughts very much, but right now he and his family are concentrated on getting his daughter home, and I don't expect to see him back here at work for a few days at least.”
Sparta police have been assisting in the investigation, but primary jurisdiction in the accident — as with all boating and lake accidents — remains with the Marine Patrol Unit of the State Police.