Wind Advisory
from SAT 12:00 PM MST until SAT 10:00 PM MST, Western Pima County including Ajo/Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Tohono O'odham Nation including Sells, Upper Santa Cruz River and Altar Valleys including Nogales, Tucson Metro Area including Tucson/Green Valley/Marana/Vail, South Central Pinal County including Eloy/Picacho Peak State Park, Southeast Pinal County including Kearny/Mammoth/Oracle, Upper San Pedro River Valley including Sierra Vista/Benson, Eastern Cochise County below 5000 ft including Douglas/Wilcox, Upper Gila River and Aravaipa Valleys including Clifton/Safford, White Mountains of Graham and Greenlee Counties including Hannagan Meadow, Galiuro and Pinaleno Mountains including Mount Graham, Chiricahua Mountains including Chiricahua National Monument, Dragoon/Mule/Huachuca and Santa Rita Mountains including Bisbee/Canelo Hills/Madera Canyon, Santa Catalina and Rincon Mountains including Mount Lemmon/Summerhaven, Baboquivari Mountains including Kitt Peak, Kofa, Central La Paz, Aguila Valley, Southeast Yuma County, Gila River Valley, Northwest Valley, Tonopah Desert, Gila Bend, Buckeye/Avondale, Cave Creek/New River, Deer Valley, Central Phoenix, North Phoenix/Glendale, New River Mesa, Scottsdale/Paradise Valley, Rio Verde/Salt River, East Valley, Fountain Hills/East Mesa, South Mountain/Ahwatukee, Southeast Valley/Queen Creek, Superior, Northwest Pinal County, West Pinal County, Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, Tonto Basin, Mazatzal Mountains, Pinal/Superstition Mountains, Sonoran Desert Natl Monument, San Carlos, Dripping Springs, Globe/Miami, Southeast Gila County

Boat repair shop helped detectives track down Bartlett Lake hit-and-run suspect

A valley man accused of leaving the scene of a boating accident that left one teen with life-threatening injuries is now behind bars.

Deputies say it was a detective who took it a step further and identified a boat repair shop which led to an arrest.

How, you might ask, would the detective be able to find the right shop?

If someone needs to repair a boat, there are only a handful of places in the valley you can go to. So when an accident happens, the repair shops are the first to know about it.

And that's how one local boat shop was able to help a detective put the puzzle pieces together.

Brad Becker, 32, was arrested after deputies say he left the scene of a boating accident last year at Bartlett Lake.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office says the boat hit a jet ski that 15-year-old Alec Medina was driving, leaving him with life-threatening injuries.

"I had heard about the accident, we kind of did a little bit of research. I reached out to a friend of mine who's in the Coast Guard, he's a volunteer. He had brought me some information. Through information found via him as well as news stations, we just kind of started picking away at boats that would come and go," said Josh Turner.

Turner is the manager of Sun Valley Fiber Glass in Mesa. He repaired Becker's boat without knowing it at first.

"When this particular boat had come in, the owner of the boat has asked me to do the repairs for him. And he didn't really know how it had happened, but that his son could have been driving the vessel when it did occur," Turner said.

Turner was in contact with a detective working the case and as it turns out, the pictures Turner took of the boats repairs before and after is what helped the detective connect the dots.

"The detective was right on the money. He knew exactly what he was looking for," Turner said.

MCSO says the boat was turned in for repairs about a week after the incident.

"It didn't seem out of the ordinary. The owner of the boat, he's a really nice man, he's a great guy, I really feel bad for what him and his wife are going through. Ultimately it wasn't his fault," Turner said.

Court documents show Becker has denied being involved in the Aug. 5 boat crash that injured Medina.