Dickson man still missing after TN River boat crash

BENTON COUNTY, Tenn. — A Middle Tennessee man is still missing after a boat crash over the weekend on the Tennessee River.

“We have so many tragedies, pretty much every year always have. You get that many people on the water day and night. People are having fun, and sometimes they get careless, and sometimes it’s just not avoidable,” Benton County Sheriff Kenny Christopher said.

Christopher says the passengers were leaving from a resort and hit an object in the water.

“They hit so hard that hit, that is broke the driver seat chair in the boat and threw the driver into the windshield of the boat, and the other people on the boat was just flung around,” Christopher said.

Christopher says 49-year-old Randy Looney, of Dickson, is missing.

“Everyone on the boat did confirm that he had fell overboard and he never resurfaced,” Christopher said.

He says crews are patrolling the waters, looking for the missing man.

“Anything to make people are. You know, have a life jacket on, you know, when the boat’s moving. You just don’t know when something like this is going to happen,” Christopher said.

Christopher says the Tennessee River is normally a happy destination, but, instead this time it turned tragic.

“It’s always sad to know that there’s somebody at the bottom of this river out here,” he said.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the Houston County Rescue Squad are still investigating the wreck.