Mountain City Man arrested after Fatal Boating Death on Lake Tugalo

A Mountain City man stands charged with first-degree homicide by vessel, boating under the influence, towing a skier without a personal flotation device, operating a vessel with a greater than 25 horsepower engine, operating a vessel with insufficient personal flotation devices, and operating a vessel with expired registration after the Saturday death of a Gainesville firefighter on Lake Tugalo.  The Georgia Department of Natural Resources reports that Kaplin Stacy Mitchell was arrested Saturday night and booked into the Rabun County Detention Center.  Mitchell was pulling 27-year-old Chandler Patterson, a Gainesville firefighter, on a tube when he fell into the water.  Mitchell turned the boat around to pick him up and struck Patterson causing him to go under the water.