A child was hospitalized Saturday after an incident on Smith Mountain Lake, officials said.

Sgt. Bryan Young with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries said the incident occurred about 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the end of Beaver Dam Creek in Bedford County.

Young said a 12-year-old boy was being pulled on a wakeboard behind a personal watercraft by his father, Carl Grove of Goodview. Grove was piloting the vehicle and his younger son was a passenger.

"They were at the end, turning around to go back to the lake," Young said. "Unfortunately, he made the turn too wide."

The boy was thrown into a dock and sustained "major head injuries," Young said, adding that the boy was taken to the pediatric intensive care unit at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Young said the boy's condition was "stable" Monday afternoon.

Grove was charged by conservation police officers Monday night with exceeding "no wake" speeds, or "idle speed," within 50 feet of a dock, which Young said applies to all boats and watercraft on the lake.

-- Neil Harvey