Kishan Putta '96 was struck by an outboard motor boat propeller on Saturday afternoon at Tubestock, sustaining a deep gash and bone chips in his left foot and minor wounds in his right foot.
Other than Putta's injury, the Tubestock weekend was relatively trouble free. Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone said the police made no arrests last weekend.
Putta was rope-swinging into the water from a bank on the Norwich, Vt. side of the Connecticut River when he was hit. He said he was underwater, tried to come up and hit his head on the bottom of the boat.
"I was taken by surprise. I was totally shocked," he said. "I figured it was a random fraternity boat. I kicked away from the object, only to feel a painful thump on my feet. It was so bizarre."
Putta then swam to shore, and saw the large gash in the top-left middle of his left foot, he said. Several students carried him to level ground and a doctor wrapped his wound until an ambulance arrived.
He said the marine patrol told him Dartmouth Medical School students were driving the boat. He said he had no further information and a dispatcher for the marine patrol said they have not completed their investigation.
He stayed in the hospital until Monday morning. Doctors only partially closed the wound in his left foot to see if an infection develops, he said.
He is currently walking with the aid of crutches and has a temporary cast on his left leg. He said he hopes to be able to walk without crutches in a week.
Putta said his family is considering suing the drivers of the boat.
"I definitely feel it was not my fault," he said. "I definitely feel that there must be some fault placed on those boaters. They should have been more careful, especially considering the environment they were in."
Ryan FitzSimons '96, the principal organizer of Tubestock this year, said about 1,000 people were on the river. He estimated 700 of those were Dartmouth students.
Giaccone said the event is no different than any normal weekend at the College, and added that the police employed no extra forces for the weekend.
"Most of what happens occurs on the river area," he said. "We don't get many calls. Last year, there were a number of inebriates handled by other Dartmouth students that we were never informed of."
College Proctor Bob McEwen said the weekend was "fairly busy but not a lot of problems." He said there were "a lot of people on the water with alcohol," but said there were fewer problems than there are on some of the "bigger" party weekends.
McEwen said this year Safety and Security picked up one drunk person at the river. He added that Safety and Security caught many people with alcohol and turned them away from the river.
"A lot of the people stopped were not Dartmouth students," McEwen said. "The event attracts many, many outsiders from all over. It's not just a Dartmouth function anymore. The last few years it has gained notoriety."
Richard "Boomer" Ackerboom '80 -- a member of Chi Heorot fraternity in his days at the College -- usually organizes the event, but could not this year.
Because Ackerboom had done such a good job planning the event in the past, FitzSimons said all he had to do was follow Ackerboom's plans.
"For something that may not have happened, I think it was great," he said. "What we pulled off I think pleased a lot of people."
He said for the most part, the weekend went off trouble-free.
"One things I've learned is that it's hard to satisfy 1,050 people," FitzSimons said. "There is only so much one person can do."
FitzSimons declined to comment on how many inner tubes or t-shirts he sold for the weekend. He also would not comment on how much money he made on the event, but said it was a small amount.
"I made no more at Tubestock than I could have working at EBAs," he said. "I wasn't looking to make money off this. If I wanted to make money off this I wouldn't have done it."
Doug Asano '96, Bill Kelleher '96, Keith Miles '96 and Josh Pearson '96 helped FitzSimons with the weekend.
