Judge says criminal charges in Missouri duck boat disaster should be dismissed
A federal magistrate judge in Missouri is recommending the dismissal of an indictment against three men for their alleged involvement in the 2018 sinking of a duck boat on Table Rock Lake that killed 17 people.
David Rush, a magistrate judge in Springfield, issued a report and recommendation on Friday that said federal law does not have jurisdiction over the case. That’s because the magistrate judge found that Table Rock Lake is not “navigable,” which is to say the southwest Missouri lake does not support commerce, like shipping.
In order for the federal criminal charges to apply to the defendants, Table Rock Lake needed to be deemed a navigable waterway.
Rush’s recommendation said if the defendants are to be prosecuted for the July 19, 2018, tragedy, it should occur in a Missouri state court, not a federal court.
A federal grand jury in 2019 indicted Kenneth Scott McKee, the captain of a Ride the Ducks vessel known as Stretch Duck 7, along with the manager on-duty, Charles Baltzell, with several counts of criminal misconduct and negligence. Also charged was Curtis Lanham, the general manager of Ride the Ducks in Branson, which was owned by Ripley Entertainment.
McKee’s charges stem from accusations that he took Stretch Duck 7 onto Table Rock Lake as a severe storm approached the area and failed to take safety precautions when the storm overwhelmed the boat. Winds in excess of 70 miles per hour pummeled the duck boat, a sightseeing vessel that travels on land and water, before it eventually sank and 17 of the 31 people on board died.
Baltzell and Lanham stand accused of disregarding or not properly assessing severe thunderstorm warnings.
All three have pleaded not guilty and deny wrongdoing.
If Rush’s recommendation is adopted by U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri Judge Doug Harpool, the criminal charges against the three men will be dismissed. The government could appeal the dismissal.
“We are reviewing the Report and Recommendation and have no further comment at this time,” said Don Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, in an email.
Attorneys for the defendants have generally argued that the unusual storm pattern that day caught them off guard and deny the government’s contention that they put profits ahead of passenger safety.
“Regrettably, the tragic incident of July 19, 2018, was caused by an aberrant wind and rain storm known as a derecho, where the wind preceded the storm front by 7 to 8 miles,” said J.R. Hobbs, a defense attorney for McKee. “Kenneth Scott McKee has denied criminal responsibility just as the others who were charged.”
Tom Bath and Tricia Bath, who represent Lanham, said the sinking of Stretch Duck 7 was a “terrible tragedy.”
“We believe the tragedy was caused by a once in a lifetime storm and not as a result of actions or the failure to act of Curtis or any other employees,“ they said in a statement.
Justin Johnston, who took over representing Baltzell after his previous attorney Brian Gaddy was named a magistrate judge in federal court in Kansas City, said he was in agreement with Rush’s recommendation.
“In any event we believe that this is a tragic accident that occurred as the result of an unprecedented wind and water condition that existed that day,” Johnston said. “That was the cause of the accident and not the fault of any of the charged individuals.”
Duck boats were originally military vehicles designed in World War II. Later they were altered and became popular for sightseeing tours. Owing in part to their amphibious nature, duck boats were loosely regulated.
In 1999, a duck boat sank in Arkansas, killing several on board and leading to recommendations by the National Transportation Safety Board that the boats could be made safer by improving buoyancy on the vessels and removing overhead canopies that had the tendency to trap passengers if the boat sank.
Those changes were not adopted by the U.S. Coast Guard and the NTSB again cited those recommendations in 2019 in its investigation of the Branson duck boat disaster.
Families of those on board filed civil lawsuits against Ripley Entertainment, which bought the Ride the Ducks enterprise late in 2017, and others. Most of the cases have settled on confidential terms.
