“The next thing you know I heard this horrific crash,” the Interlake Island resident recounted Tuesday. “It sounded like it hit a dock. It was that loud.”

Swanson described the pandemonium on the water as residents, including her husband, rushed to see what happened and help the injured people aboard two boats involved in a deadly crash on the southern end of the lake.

Investigators say a 21-foot Supra hit the back of an 18-foot Bayliner just after 10:30 p.m., flew over the top of the craft and landed in the water between Interlake and Inlet islands.

“The main causes of the collision are speed and alcohol,” Bonney Lake police spokesman Tony Rice said Tuesday.

The violent crash killed Ronald Scott, a 49-year-old Bonney Lake resident, and hurt nine others, three seriously.

Scott lived on the lake and for years worked as a real estate agent in John L. Scott’s Lake Tapps office.

“He’s just one of those guys that everybody loves,” said Maria Reisinger, office manager at the Lake Tapps office. “It’s horrible, just horrible.”

The 41-year-old driver of the Supra was taken to the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of homicide by watercraft and two counts of assault by watercraft. The driver, who The News Tribune isn’t naming because he hadn’t been charged, was scheduled to make his first court appearance today.

People gathered at the man’s Inlet Island home declined to speak with a reporter Tuesday.

Of the injured, two women were flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with serious to critical injuries, East Pierce Fire & Rescue reported. One lost a leg in the crash, and the other suffered a serious leg injury, Rice said.

Their families asked that no information be released about their conditions, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

One other passenger was taken to an area hospital with serious injuries. East Pierce Fire & Rescue treated six other patients for minor injuries, the department reported.

Investigators spent much of Tuesday piecing together what happened, including who was hurt on which boat. They were interviewing the 11 people on the two boats.

Detectives impounded both vessels and planned to search them for evidence and inspect the equipment, including the lights. There were reports that one boat might not have had any lights on.

Because of Monday’s nice weather, boaters were out on Lake Tapps throughout the day. Being on the water at night isn’t unusual, residents said.

“There’s always someone out on the lake late at night,” Rice said.

Police gave this account of the crash:

The Bayliner had been trolling around on the lake, with Scott driving. The Supra approached from behind and hit the back of the Bayliner, throwing Scott into the water. Searchers used sonar and found him more than an hour later.

The driver of the Supra was arrested at the scene. Witnesses and officers smelled intoxicants on him, Rice said.

One witness said the Supra was going 25 mph but Rice said he couldn’t confirm that. Lake Tapps has a no-wake zone at night that requires boats to go no faster than 5 mph.

Diane Cooksey said she had heard a boat speed by her waterfront home on Interlake Island shortly before the crash. A short time later, she heard the loud crash and voices yelling. She woke up her husband, who went out to their dock to watch the activity.

At Swanson’s house, she, too, got her husband up after hearing the crash. He launched their boat and took two off-duty paramedics to the site of the crash, about 100 yards off shore.

“It was not a good scene,” Swanson said.

Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268

blogs.thenewstribune.com/crime ‘PEOPLE’S LIVES ARE ON THE LINE’

For Chuck Romeo, Monday night’s fatal boat collision on Lake Tapps again raised issues of speeding boats on the lake and enforcement against them.

“We need more patrols,” said Romeo, president of the Lake Tapps Community Council. “People’s lives are on the line.”

Residents on Interlake and Inlet islands said boats speed through the waterway.

“You’re not supposed to go fast,” said Tina Kelly, who lives on Inlet Island. “This is like a freeway.”

There’s an average of one death a year on the lake, said John McDonald, interim chief of East Pierce Fire & Rescue. Most of the deaths are related to swimming accidents. A Federal Way man drowned in early September when he tried to cross the swimming area of Lake Tapps North Park.

Stacey Mulick, The News Tribune