ASHTABULA — The man who died in a boating accident in Ashtabula Harbor last week succumbed to blunt force trauma, Ashtabula County Coroner’s Investigator Thomas Despenes Jr. said.
George Busler, 74, of Apollo, Pennsylvania, was pronounced dead at the scene and his body was sent to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.
The preliminary autopsy report indicates that Busler died from blunt force trauma to his torso, Despenes said.
A toxicology report was done and the results usually take several weeks, he said.
The boat crashed into the breakwater shortly before 10 p.m. on July 26.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is investigating the accident.
The names of the other occupants, including the driver, were not released Tuesday, according to the ODNR and the US Coast Guard Buffalo Station.
The call came in to the Ashtabula Fire Department at 10:08 p.m. July 26 to assist Ashtabula Coast Guard Station with multiple casualties, Fire Chief Shawn Gruber said.
Five men were on the 28ft boat when it hit the breakwater, according to reports.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, they found Busler unconscious and Coast Guard medics performed CPR on him.
They transferred Busler to the fireboat and AFD medics continued CPR while the Coast Guard assisted the other occupants, Gruber said.
Reports said crews from Ashtabula and Saybrook Townships helped transport two occupants to Ashtabula County Medical Center for non-life threatening injuries.
The other two men were released at the scene, Gruber said.
