Pasco woman hurt in Lake Tarpon boating accident

A Pasco County woman was seriously injured Saturday night on Lake Tarpon, nearly losing her arm after the boat she was in crashed into another vessel and then almost landed on top of her.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office says 21-year-old Patricia Blankenship of Holiday, her husband and two friends were in a 16-foot hydrosport boat when it collided with an anchored 21-foot paramount boat on the west side of the lake at about 6:30 p.m.
Blankenship was thrown from the boat as it soared over the anchored vessel. The hydrosport landed nearby, investigators say. She suffered multiple injuries including a nearly severed left arm from the propeller.
She was flown by helicopter to Tampa General Hospital and immediately placed into surgery.
No charges have been filed at this time.
A hospital spokeswoman on Sunday said Blankenship was listed in critical condition.
Investigators say alcohol was a factor, but did not supply further details.
Blankenship's husband, 23-year-old Justin Shields, friend Jeremy Rettman, 31, and his daughter Amanda Rettman, 10, both of Oldsmar, were not injured in the wreck, investigators say.
No one was in the other boat, according to the sheriff's office, which said the owners had left it earlier in the afternoon to join other friends on their boat.

Mike Donila, Times staff writer