A boating accident sent six people into the water on the West River on Saturday evening, and a 21-year-old man lost his life in the crash.
Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) say a white center-console struck the piling of a channel marker in the river near Parish Creek around 6 p.m. The impact caused all six people on board to fall into the water. But one failed to resurface, NRP says.
Emergency responders, officers, and divers all searched the area for the missing boater, including the Coast Guard, Anne Arundel County Fire Department, and Maryland State Police. Officers recovered his body from the water later that evening. He has been identified as Nick Barton, 21, of Crofton in Anne Arundel County.
Word traveled quickly on social media among those who knew Barton, a lacrosse player who played midfield at Anne Arundel Community College. According to the player roster, he was a Dean’s List student who contributed 39 goals & 9 assists in 29 career games over 3 seasons.
A Gofundme page raising money for a scholarship fund in Barton’s name had more than $19,000 in donations by Wednesday morning. Family friend Catherine Conway Castro writes, in part, “There are some kids that are just magnetic and happy souls that everyone really likes—that was Nick.”
NRP says the investigation into the crash and Barton’s death is ongoing.
-Meg Walburn Viviano
