The inexperienced boater whose propeller mauled a swimmer faces misdemeanor charges, and the accident victim has lost her arm because of the injuries, a lake official said today.

Dennis Franklin Allen, who was driving a rental boat that ran over a passenger who jumped out to swim in Lake Norman on June 25, has been charged with negligent operation of a motorboat, endangering life and limb, and operation of a motorboat with insufficient life jackets, said Master Officer Kenneth Osborne Jr. of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

The passenger, 25-year-old Deondra Scott, remains in critical condition at Carolinas Medical Center today after surgery to amputate her right arm.

"It's a horrible accident. It's just that, an accident, but it could have been avoided," said Osborne, who did the investigation and filed the charges. Allen is "very remorseful and very upset," he added.

Officers are out in force, using boats, planes and a "Booze It and Lose It" bus, to avoid further tragedy on Lake Norman during the hot and crowded Independence Day weekend, Osborne said. Boating officers who aren't normally assigned to the lake north of Charlotte have been brought in.

In addition to last weekend's boating accident, which happened during a "Lake Bash" party with 300 to 400 boats tied together, this weekend brought the death of a young man swimming with a church group at Lake Norman State Park. He was found in about 6 feet of water about 50 feet from the beach Saturday; members of his group later realized they had last seen him about 2 1/2 hours earlier.

Friends of Scott, a waitress at the Concord Mills Olive Garden and the uptown Epicentre's Vida restaurant, are raising money to help with the cost of what is expected to be a long recovery.

"A lot of people, even from the lake, have wanted to help," said coworker Latrece Caldwell. Donations can be made at any Wachovia/Wells Fargo branch to the Deondra Laseia Scott Assistance Fund, c/o Shawn Conley.

Caldwell said Allen, the driver of the boat, works with Scott at Vida, a job she started recently.

Officers say he had never driven a boat before renting a 24-foot motorboat and taking it to the gathering in a cove off Gainswood Drive in Mooresville. They say he apparently didn't notice that a couple of his passengers jumped off to swim while he was still trying to "raft" his boat. Scott became entangled in the propeller.

She has had four surgeries, including the amputation, and has severe lacerations to both legs and a punctured lung, Osborne said today.

A state law passed in 2010 requires recreational boaters under 26 to take a safety course and pass a standardized test before taking the helm, but Allen is 30 and did not have to take the course.