A 17-year-old Virginia Beach girl who was injured in a boating accident at Smith Mountain Lake on Friday has been charged with reckless operation of a motorboat and faces up to $2,500 in fines and a suspension of boat driving privileges, Lt. Karl Martin of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries said.

The girl, whom authorities are not naming because she is a juvenile, was charged Saturday morning, he said. The girl was thrown into the water when the motorboat she was driving hit a wake and she lost control, Martin said. The boat had been pulling inner tubes carrying her brother and boyfriend, he said. Her father was also on board and was thrown into the lake, he said.

The driverless boat circled around until the tow rope got caught in the propeller and stopped it, he said. The girl was injured in the legs by the rope and taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Martin said.

No one else was injured, he said.

"People tend to let their guards down when they are having fun," Martin said. "This accident could have been a lot worse. They could have all been run over."

The charge is a class one misdemeanor, meaning the girl could lose boat driving privileges for up to five years, he said.

- Christina Rogers