3 men charged in deadly 2018 Missouri duck boat accident

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JOHN HANNA

A local prosecutor charged a boat captain and two other employees Friday over 17 deaths in July 2018 when a tourist duck boat sank on a Missouri lake during a severe thunderstorm, reviving the threat of long prison sentences seven months after federal charges against them were dismissed.

The total of 63 felony charges were filed in Stone County against the captain, the general manager and the manager on duty the day of the accident for the Ride the Ducks attraction on Table Rock Lake near the tourist mecca of Branson, in southwestern Missouri.

Captain Kenneth Scott McKee, of Verona, general manager Curtis Lanham, of Galena, and manager on duty Charles Baltzell, of Kirbyville, were charged after a federal judge dismissed earlier charges filed by federal prosecutors, concluding they did not have jurisdiction.

Among the dead were nine members of a family from Indianapolis and victims from Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas. Tia Coleman, a member of that Indianapolis family who lost her husband and three children, said in a statement that her “prayers had been answered” with the charges.



FILE - In this July 23, 2018 file photo, a duck boat that sank in Table Rock Lake in Branson, Mo., is raised after it went down the evening of July 19 after a thunderstorm generated near-hurricane strength winds, killing 17 people. A county prosecutor and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed state charges, Friday, July 16, 2021, against three employees of the duck boat tourist attraction in connection with the boat sinking. (Nathan Papes/The Springfield News-Leader via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/missouri-duck-boat-accident-charges-9be4b42462ab8c878cd35cc7f3bbf809

[Turbineguy]

1. The Captain is usually placed in the position

by Management that sailing seems like an excellent idea.

[marble falls]

2. And people wonder why it's taking so long to jail 45. Due process takes time.

[Canoe52]

3. Those boats should have never been used for carrying passengers.

Total death traps.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. I heard this on the news earlier this afternoon

and only heard blips of it thinking that it was referencing Philly's own Duck Boat incident, which also had a loss of lives, but happened over a decade ago. I know that although they initially resumed the tours, eventually the couple companies closed up shop and ended them.

I do remember a bit about this incident in MO. It's just sad.