Scott Sorli, the 39-year-old Dale City man who was killed in a personal watercraft accident at Belmont Bay on Sunday, was jumping boat wakes at about 4:30 p.m. when he was thrown into the air and fell back onto the watercraft, witnesses told investigators.
The force of Sorli’s fall caused “extensive” internal injuries and bent the handlebars of the watercraft, said U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary spokesman Joseph P. Cirone.
Shelia McIlvain, Sorli’s passenger on the watercraft, had been operating it before the accident, Cirone said.
Virginia Department of Game an Inland Fisheries charged McIlvain, of Washington, with operating a watercraft under the influence, said VGDIF spokesman Randy Grauer.
Multiple witnesses in a passing commercial pontoon boat saw the accident and called the Coast Guard, Cirone said.
A man on the pontoon boat performed CPR until rescuers from Prince William and Fairfax fire and rescue departments arrived and took Sorli and McIlvain to Potomac Hospital, where Sorli was pronounced dead, Cirone said.
McIlvain, 42, was wearing a life jacket. Sorli was not, Cirone said.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is continuing the investigation, Grauer said.
Manassas Bureau Chief Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.
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