Yeah, people just rolled eyes and bitched about horrible lawyers and our poor justice system.

For me it was a great part of our system of justice. A business knew their product was dangerous to the public but kept it that way because it made them more money.

Lawyers and bad publicity keep businesses from making that decision on a daily basis. That helps protect us consumers from dangers we don't know. It had to be a large settlement to modify their behavior.

I have a cousin that remembers them from his Military days. They were pretty unsafe and not dependable for our Military according to him.

Nobody needs a fishing boat either, or a ski boat, they aren't "legitimate" forms of trasnportation" right? :rolleyes:

:spock:

New Duck Boats to hit Branson spring of 2021. New owners say new boat unsinkable. Somehow this sounds like Titanic all over again.

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63 felony charges filed in duck boat accident on Missouri lake that killed 17

A local prosecutor on Friday filed a total of 63 felony criminal charges against three employees over a July 2018 tourist boat accident on a Missouri lake that killed 17 people.

The 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.

The charges were announced by County Prosecuting Attorney Matt Selby and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

The charges against captain Kenneth Scott McKee, of Verona, general manager Curtis Lanham, of Galena, and manager on duty Charles Baltzell, of Kirbyville, came seven months after a federal judge dismissed charges filed by federal prosecutors, concluding that they did not have jurisdiction.

McKee faces 29 charges, including 17 charges of first-degree involuntary manslaughter. An affidavit from a Missouri Highway Patrol sergeant accuses him of failing to exercise his duties as a licensed captain by taking his amphibious vehicle onto the lake during a thunderstorm.

Baltzell and Lanham face 17 charges each of first-degree involuntary manslaughter. They are accused of failing to communicate weather conditions and failing to cease operations during a severe thunderstorm warning.

The dead included nine members of one family from Indianapolis. Other victims were from Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas.

Many time I've been just across the lake from where this happened. I've raced a storm back to our dock just in the nick of time in the pontoon we had when I was in my 20's/30's. Those storms could roll up on you in a moments notice back in the day but in more modern times this storm should have been scene coming. Just a terrible **** up by the people in charge.

I find it interesting that the charges were filed in the little Stone County offices instead of Taney County where Branson is located.

Maybe the part of the lake the tragedy happened was in Stone County.

Isn't most of the lake on the MO side in Stone County?

Good point, probably so, but the Duck Boat ride is in Branson, thus the question.

Just a curiosity on my part though, as Galena is a long way from the lake and the ride.

Hoping not to get called in for jury duty on this as it may take a while.

Has no charges been file on the Owners of Ride the Duck that flaunted safety issues that needed to be corrected?

Of course, they have no culpability whatsoever. :rolleyes:

Those microbursts you guys have down there on the lakes
Its some very very violent shit.