DUCK BOAT TRAGEDY ON TABLE ROCK LAKE – MISSOURI PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS SAY IT COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED
Seventeen people died Thursday night after a duck boat capsized on Table Rock Lake in the Missouri Ozarks. According to County Sheriff Doug Rader, children were among the dead. At least seven people have been taken to the hospital, one with serious injuries.
As lawyers in Springfield, Missouri, The Potts Law Firm attorneys are frequent visitors of Table Rock Lake and are intimately familiar with Ride the Ducks and duck boats on Table Rock Lake. These types of watercraft have a history of being unstable and there have been other fatalities related to duck boats in other states. Our hearts go out to the victims of this incident on July 19, 2018. Based on public weather reports, and the information in the media, it appears that this horrible tragedy on Table Rock Lake could have been prevented. Now is not the time to do anything but support grieving families, but after a thorough investigation, we hope valuable lessons can be learned to prevent other families having to go through the wrongful death and catastrophic injuries from a boat accident. As Missouri boat accident attorneys, we see these types of deaths far too often.
Missouri Duck Boat Victims
Of the 17 killed in the duck boat accident, 9 were identified as members of the Coleman family from Indiana: 45-year-old Angela Coleman, 1-year-old Arya Coleman, 69-year-old Belinda Coleman, 76-year-old Ervin Coleman, 7-year-old Evan Coleman, 40-year-old Glenn Coleman, 70-year-old Horace Coleman, 2-year-old Maxwell Coleman, and 9-year-old Reece Coleman. They were survived by Tia Coleman and Donavan Coleman. Also killed were 64-year-old Leslie Dennison of Illinois, and 53-year-old Steve Smith and his son, 15-year-old Lance Smith, from Arkansas. They were survived by Lauren Smith, Steve Smith’s wife, and their daughter Lauren Smith. The others who died were all identified as residents of Missouri: 69-year-old William Asher, 68-year-old Rosemarie Hamann, 63-year-old Janice Bright, 65-year-old William Bright, and the boat operator, 73-year-old Bob Williams.
The Potts Law Firm is a nationwide firm based in Houston Texas, with a strong Missouri presence. We have a fully staffed office in Springfield, Missouri near Table Rock Lake, and we practice in Stone and Taney County, Missouri frequently. If you have any questions about Table Rock Lake or Missouri wrongful death law for your friends or family, please do not hesitate to contact Eric Jensen in our Springfield office at (888) 420-1299 or via email at [email protected].