Posted on 06/03/2014 1:24:27 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
DES MOINES, Iowa —The Missouri State Highway Patrol is investigating the drowning of a 20-year-old Iowa man who was handcuffed and being transported on suspicion of boating while intoxicated at the Lake of the Ozarks.
Brandon Ellingson, 20, of Clive, was being transported when he stood up in the moving boat and "fell or jumped overboard."
It happened about 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
Authorities said Ellingson was handcuffed and wearing a life jacket when he went off the boat, but his life jacket fell off when he hit the water.
Highway Patrol Sgt. Paul Reinsch said Monday officials are investigating whether Ellingson fell or jumped and why his life vest came off.
A dive team recovered his body shortly before noon Sunday.
"Obviously a very serious situation, we're looking into how the victim got out of his seat, went over to the side of the boat and then either jumped or fell off the boat," said Reinsch. "After the subject fell into the lake, the trooper first tried to retrieve him, and then actually go into the water to rescue him, and wasn't able to do so."
Ellingson had been attending Arizona State University.
A friend of the family said Ellingson was a standout football player at West Des Moines Valley High School, having graduated in 2012.
"He was just a kid that could get along with everybody," said Brad Rose, Valley High School athletic director. "He showed up every day, ready to work. Didn't want any special favors. He carried his own weight and he was a good student -- excellent student as well."
"It still hasn't really set in. It's almost surreal for me as well. We just saw him last week. All the graduates stop in to see Coach Swenson and we see them around the weight room and they tell us how they're doing. I know he had a big summer planned, to do some studying abroad," said Rose.
The case remains under investigation.
Massive incompetence. Wrong life jacket and/or improperly applied.
Only a Type 1 PFD can be reasonably counted on to support someone face-up when they are of that bulk and who is handcuffed. Even then it’s iffy. Failure to properly restrain, failure to secure prisoner safety.
Grossly negligent, even reckless. Elements of potentially criminal culpability.
Bit of a leap there.
It’s both. They are grossly negligent for failing to use the right PFD, to apply it properly, and to maintain security and safety of the person in custody.
There is some ‘splainin’ to do.
That was my immediate question! Seems highly improbable/impossible to me.
Short answer, it doesn't, because it physically can't. This makes the entire account by LEO suspect...
the infowarrior
If you’re going to be in the business of taking prisoners and transporting them over water then they need to train and equip appropriately. Evidently they failed to do so and they drowned a misdemeanor arrestee and damn near one if their own.
Gross negligence. Massive liability.
anyone know the if the family dog is OK?
_______________________________________
Yes. The family dog is fine. And all cops invloved went home safely that night. If not just a little soggy.
It seems to me that before the Water Patrol took delivery of the center console Donzi fleet, the officers would lock the arrested boaters to the floor of their previous water crafts.
Yes, there are a lot of boozed up boaters on the Lake of the Ozarks on just about any day of the week. Only recently have there been a sufficient number of officers to cover the 100 mile long waterway.
That’s a very valid question and one that immediately crossed my mind as I read that story.
“the cops killed him”
That doesn’t surprise me.
I’ve never had a positive interaction with the cops in 12 tries, with 6 as victim and 6 as a guy trying hard to obey the rules of the road.
They NEVER investigate a crime. They ALWAYS jack up innocent citizens attempting to legally go about their day.
That’s my experience after 52 years as a rock-ribbed conservative.
They can take the next 50 years to convince me otherwise.
Cops are just a well armed gang operating under color of authority.
I should also mention, reports say the trooper was a road veteran who must have made dozens of arrests on Missouri highways.
I am pretty sure that anyone under arrest will be cuffed AND SECURED BY A SEATBELT in the patrol car.
Why not in a patrol boat. Especially in choppy water ?
I agree with you. Just how did the life jacket fall off with the guy in handcuffs? It wouldn’t seem to work.
how does a life jacket fall of someone who was handcuffed, unless it was never actually on?
It was for his own safety.
Presumeably, if there's an accident, the boat's still not going to sink so fast that the "prisoner" is trapped and drowned because the police couldn't release the restraints?
Cuffing to the "floor" might be a problem, but there must be some other way to safely confine arrestees to the boat...if this kid hadn't jumped out, he'd be safe at home tonight with a possible midemeanor charge.
Where are you getting that he jumped out?
I understand the part about this type of boat having no seat belts. In the rough water, a capsize event at cruising speed and you are drowned and have your neck broken if not thrown free.
The issue may boil down to a drunk uncooperative person standing up and going overboard and the life jacket was put on incorrectly allowing it to come off.
The officer tried to get him by reach, failed and went into very choppy water and couldn’t rescue the man dispite attempting to his own point of exhaustion as verified by witnesses.
Wrong jacket or wrong jacket procedure is what it boils down to. I would not want someone in my custody, while I was alone (as typical) chained into a boat — way too risky for that lake.
My interaction with Missouri Water Patrol Troopers has all been good and what I have seen on Smithville Lake (small water) and on Lake of the Ozarks (big chop) has all been good. They don’t harrass, they look for the obvious violations and we have a lot of accidents due to stupid drunk boating. With 2,500 miles of shoreline on that lake and thousands of boats there is a lot of stupid behavior especially by visitors coming down there to “blow off steam.”
I have a smaller aluminum deckboat down there. It bounces like a cork even with a 150 HP. I am very cautious on the weekends if I go out at all. A 45’ cruiser or a 35’ formula can leave a six foot tall wake as they go onto or come off of plane. You put 20 such boats within a 1000 yard of any big cove and it is like boating in a blender.
go to
http://www.lakeoftheozarksshootout.org/2010photos.html
to see how crowded this lake can get and imagine the chop when these boats all start up to leave at the end of this event. I have a freind with a 400,000 dollar boat which was turned on its stern with the bow to the sky just because he was waiting for the idiots to clear out.
At worse it sounds like negligence on the part of police.
At best it sounds like negligence on the part of police.
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