Missouri opens criminal probe into duck boat sinking that killed 17

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The Missouri attorney general’s office says it has opened a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the amphibious vehicle know as a duck boat that sank on a lake, killing 17 people.

Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office confirmed Monday that it has an opened investigation under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act into the July 19 duck boat incident at Table Rock Lake.

His spokeswoman, Mary Compton, said in an email that they are working with investigators to determine the facts and whether any criminal charges are appropriate.

For 20 years we’ve known duck boats are death traps–  Robert Mongeluzzi, attorney for family filing lawsuit

The statement does not name any individuals or companies.

A lawsuit was filed Sunday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City seeking $100 million US in damages on behalf of two of nine members of an Indiana family who died in the tragedy.

The owners and operators of a tourist boat put profits over people’s safety when they decided to put the Ride the Ducks boat on a lake despite design problems and warnings of severe weather, the lawsuit alleges.

“This tragedy was the predictable and predicted result of decades of unacceptable, greed-driven, and willful ignorance of safety by the duck boat industry in the face of specific and repeated warnings that their duck boats are death traps for passengers and pose grave danger to the public on water and on land,” the lawsuit alleges.

Attorney Robert Mongeluzzi, acting on behalf of the family, detailed at a subsequent news conference on Monday the history of the vessels. Mongeluzzi’s law firm won a $17 million settlement after two Hungarian students drowned in a duck boat ride in Philadelphia in 2010.

“For 20 years we’ve known duck boats are death traps,” he said.

Ripley Entertainment Inc., Ride the Ducks International, Ride the Ducks of Branson, the Herschend Family Entertainment Corp., and Amphibious Vehicle Manufacturing are named in the lawsuit, which was filed by a team led by a Philadelphia-based legal firm that has litigated previous lawsuits involving duck boats. 

A spokesperson for Ripley Entertainment, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based conglomerate The Jim Pattison Group, said the company is “deeply saddened” by the tragedy.

Suzanne Smagala said in a statement Monday that the company would not comment further because a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation is continuing and no conclusions have been reached.

Life preservers not worn

The lawsuit says the boat operators violated the company’s own policies by putting the boat into the water despite the weather warnings. It also says the captain violated protocol by not telling passengers to put on life-jackets when the water got rough and instead lowering plastic side curtains, “thus further entrapping passengers in the soon-to-sink vessel.”

“Ride the Ducks of Branson is owned by Ripleys, and, believe it or not, you don’t promote tourism by killing tourists,” said Mongeluzzi.

The lawsuit cites an August 2017 report from private inspector Steve Paul , who looked at two dozen of the duck boats. The report warned Ripley Entertainment that the vessels’ engines — and pumps that remove water from their hulls — were susceptible to failing in bad weather. It also accuses the defendants of ignoring warnings the NTSB issued in 2000 that the vehicles, which are designed to operate on land and water, should be upgraded to ensure the boats remain upright and floating in bad weather.

The 2000 recommendation from The NTSB was issued after a duck boat sank May 1, 1999, on Lake Hamilton in Arkansas, killing 13 people.

When Robert McDowell, then-president of Ride the Ducks Branson, responded that upgrades would require significant costs, NTSB chairman Jim Hall said the recommendations were made because the agency believed “immediate action was necessary to avoid additional loss of life.” The lawsuit says the defendants ignored the warnings.

It also alleges McDowell designed and developed the stretch duck boats, including the Stretch Duck O7 that sank, despite having no engineering training.

Thunderstorm warning 

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area including Table Rock Lake about 30 minutes before the boat went onto the lake with 31 people on board.

The NTSB said Friday that a preliminary review of video and audio recordings from the boat showed that the lake changed from calm to dangerous in a matter of minutes. The agency emphasized it had not drawn any conclusions on what caused the boat to sink.

The captain, who operated the boat on the water, survived and has acknowledged he was aware of the weather warnings before the trip, according to the NTSB. Another crew member who operated the boat on land was among those who died.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the estates of Ervin Coleman, 76, and Maxwell Ly, 2. Maxwell was identified by authorities as Maxwell Coleman after the boat sank. Family members were not present at Monday’s news conference.

The legal team said their compensation would be determined by an undisclosed contingency fee if the lawsuit is successful.

Mongeluzzi said the boats should not be operational.

“If the government won’t step into act, we have the jury system, which can speak loudly and clearly,” he said.

2nd lawsuit filed

The lawsuit accuses Ripley Entertainment and the other defendants of negligence, product liability, outrageous conduct, wrongful death, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and violating the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.

Separately, three daughters of a couple who died at Table Rock Lake filed a lawsuit on Monday.

The wrongful death lawsuit was filed Monday in Taney County Circuit Court by Missouri residents Michelle Chaffer, Christina Taylor and Rebekah Wittington, seeking more than $125,000 in damages. Their parents were William and Janice Bright, of Higginsville, Mo

The lawsuit names Ride the Ducks International, Ripley Entertainment Inc. and operators Kenneth McKee and Robert Williams as defendants. Williams died in the accident.

Ripley Entertainment is owned by Vancouver-based Jim Pattison Group.