The incident took place in what is known as the “Playpen,” a walled-off area of the lake between the Oak Street and Ohio Street beaches. On beautiful weekends, hundreds of boaters often anchor in the area, tie their boats together and swim out the back. It’s generally a relaxing time on the water, but Saturday night, it was anything but. Cellphone video from a nearby boat shows the victims in the water after another boat backed into them. WATCHES | The CPD Marine Corps Unit is reporting on the “Playpen” incident. One woman’s legs were severed by the propeller, police said, and another had serious injuries to her hand. Witness Ted Widen could hardly believe what he was seeing. “All these people that were on a lily pad or any kind of float, they just got displaced and then they had nowhere to go,” Widen said. Widen’s friend was in a boat nearby and helped pull several of the victims from the water before police arrived. They helped carry the remaining victims to safety. Many of those in the water were still in shock. “I believe there were six to eight people in a flotation raft and while they were in that raft, another boat reversed into them, pulling them right under their boat,” said Officer Ark Pachnik, with the Police Marine Unit of Chicago. Once they reached shore, Patznik said he carried the woman with her injured legs over his shoulder to the ambulance. “It was hectic,” said police officer Raul Echevarria, who treated the woman with the injured arm. Paramedics transported both victims to nearby Northwestern Hospital. Chicago police said they are still investigating the incident, but at this point, they are calling it an accident. Copyright © 2022 WLS-TV. All rights reserved.
