TOWN OF TONAWANDA, NY - Police in the Town of Tonawanda are investigating a fatal boating accident on Ellicott Creek Thursday morning.
The victim is a 16-year-old girl from Lockport.
Lockport school officials tell us the victim was Avery Gardner. They say she used to be enrolled in the district but has been home schooled since 2013. Nevertheless, the district is making counselors available for her friends and former classmates.
Meanwhile, police are investigating whether alcohol or speed played a role in the mishap.
Police say the girl was one of three passengers in a motorboat, along with her teenage boyfriend and an adult male.
As it approached a pedestrian bridge in Ellicott Creek Park west of Niagara Falls Boulevard, police say she stood up, striking her head on the beam which serves as the bridge's undercarriage as the boat passed beneath.
The boat traveled another 450 feet, before it was put ashore and her boyfriend started yelling for help.
Phil Bantle was one of several neighbors along Ellicott Creek Road who were rousted from their homes by his cries and rushed to try and help.
"There was an older gentleman holding the girl's head up, cradling if from behind and there was a lot of blood," Bantle told WGRZ-TV. "We managed to get the boat pulled ashore and tied down, and then I ran back and got a towel to try to stop the bleeding. I thought she was going to make it, I feel terrible for her family."
