Boating incident leaves one deceased

KEWAUNEE – On Monday, August 17 at 4:37 AM, the City of Kewaunee Police Department responded to a boating incident which occurred north of the Kewaunee Lighthouse Pier, at the north breakwall.

Units from the City of Kewaunee Police Department along with units from the Kewaunee County Sheriff’s Department, Kewaunee Fire Department, Kewaunee Rescue, Kewaunee Marina, Kewaunee Department of Public Works, the United States Coast Guard and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources responded to the scene.

Initial investigation determined that the involved boat, a 2005 Alumacraft Trophy 180, 18-ft fishing boat, driven by 81-year-old Jimmie D. Brooks from Appleton, was traveling out from the Kewaunee Harbor in a northerly direction when it struck the south side of the north breakwall. Brooks sustained fatal injuries as a result of the crash. His body was recovered from the water by the United States Coast Guard and he was pronounced dead on scene. Randy H. Sieg, a 68-year-old also from Appleton, was the only other occupant of the vessel at the time of the crash. He was transported to land and evaluated by Kewaunee Rescue with minor injuries and released on scene.

This crash remains under investigation by the City of Kewaunee Police Department, as well as the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The Kewaunee Police Department extends its sympathies to the family of the deceased and gratitude to all of the assisting agencies, as well as boaters who assisted in the harbor area that morning and in the following days, with the retrieval of personal property.