Mother ejected, run over by family’s boat in fatal SC accident

A woman was killed after being thrown from her family’s boat and then run over by the vessel in a Lowcountry waterway on Saturday.

The accident happened around noon Saturday near mile marker 102 in the Intracoastal Waterway, not far from the Isle of Palms Marina, according to Capt. Robert McCullough of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

A couple and their two children had just departed the marina for a day trip on their Carolina skiff when the flat-bottom boat hit something in the water, McCullough said.

“It appears they struck something — we think it may have been an oyster bed — and it threw the wife from the boat,” McCullough said. “And the boat continued over her.”

Charleston County Deputy Coroner Kimberly Rhoton identified the victim on Sunday afternoon as 37-year-old Stephanie Rechtin, of Mount Pleasant. Rechtin died at the scene from her injuries.

“Right now it appears to be a tragic accident,” McCullough said. “We have no indications of alcohol or anything at this point.”

The accident remains under investigation by the Department of Natural Resources, which investigates all boating collisions in South Carolina.

This story was originally published July 15, 2018 at 1:20 PM.