Boat driver who hit junior lifeguard is safety veteran

Personal Injury News

Article Date: 7/15/2009 | Resource: MLG

Boat driver who hit junior lifeguard is safety veteran

“11-year-old died after hit by boat during training exercise.”

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Orange County Sheriff’s Department officials have identified Huntington Beach Marine Safety Lt. Greg Crow as the driver of the lifeguard boat that struck and killed an 11-year-old junior lifeguard during a routine training exercise.

Orange County Sheriff spokesman Jim Amormino said Allyssa Squirrell of Laguna Hills sustained deep cuts to her leg and hip after she was hit by the boat while swimming in the ocean Tuesday. A deckhand and an instructor for the Junior Lifeguard Program were also part of the exercise, but they have not been identified.

Squirrell’s death has rocked the junior lifeguard program that has become a crown jewel in the Huntington Beach community and has never had a major incident with a lifeguard boat before, locals and officials said. Residents are also rallying behind Crow, who is 32-year veteran with the Marine Safety division.

“They run an impeccable program,” said Huntington Beach native Bridget Harris, whose husband Crow taught to swim. “It had to be some crazy freak accident.”

Amormino said the incident occurred during an exercise where 20 to 25 junior lifeguards start on shore and swim about 100 yards out into the ocean where they get on a marine safety boat. When the boat starts to drive, the junior lifeguards jump back into the ocean and gather as a group on one side, he explained. The boat then circles around and picks up the junior lifeguards, Amormino said.

What happened in this case was Allyssa and another girl had not made it back to the group when the boat started to circle and pick up the young trainee, he said. That’s when Alyssa was hit by the boat between lifeguard towers 5 and 7.

“It appears to be a tragic, tragic accident,” Amormino said.

The Orange County Coroner ruled the cause of death as “sharp force causing injuries to back and extremities.”

A small memorial with flowers, cards, a pink dolphin balloon and candle has been erected Wednesday outside the Huntington Beach Marine Safety headquarters on Pacific Coast Highway and First Street.

“It is such a tragedy,” said junior lifeguard parent Jessica Haynes crying. “I think all these people are wonderful and they are doing the best they can.”

Allyssa Squirrell’s family was not immediately available for comment.

A Facebook group memorializing Allyssa Squirrell has been set up. In it members send condolences to friends and family of Allyssa and suggest raising money for the family.

City officials say Crow is a training officer with the city’s Junior Lifeguard Program for more than 20 years and is licensed with the U.S. Coast Guard. He has also been honored with the Public Safety Medal of Valor for rescuing occupants of a sinking boat in the high seas, officials said. He is currently on leave from the department, officials said.

Huntington Beach Marine Safety Chief Kyle Lindo said with tears in his eyes that Crow is “extremely experienced, decorated and a very valuable employee.”

“He has been and is an integral part of our operation,” Lindo said. “When I was a rookie lifeguard, (Crow) trained me. He’s had a hand in training everyone that works on our staff.”

Crow voluntarily took a toxicology test and no alcohol or drugs were found in his system, Amormino said. The boat is in a forensic lab for examination, he said.

On Wednesday, the family of Danny Oates, a 14-year-old boy who was struck and killed by a pickup truck while riding his bike to school about two years ago, set up a bulletin board outside lifeguard headquarters where several wrote messages to the Squirrell family. Oates was also a junior lifeguard.

A condolence card from the Oates family read: “We will miss you! Look for Danny Oates. He will take care of you. Love. The Oateses.”

Justin McBride, a 15-year-old former junior lifeguard, said he did the same training exercise when he was in the program.

“Every time you know it’s possible that someone could get hurt,” he said. “The lifeguards are on top of everything. They tell us what to do and if you do it right away, everything is fine.”

His father Mike McBride of Huntington Beach said the city’s Junior Lifeguard program is one of the best programs in which he has been involved with regard to his children.

“I want to be clear that this is a fantastic program,” he said. “It is not run sloppily.”

The Huntington Beach Junior Lifeguard Program, which has not seen any fatality since its inception in 1964, was suspended today, but will resume Thursday, said Huntington Beach city spokeswoman Laurie Payne.
“We’ve had a very successful program for 45 years,” she said. “This is the first time anything like this has ever happened. More than 20,000 lifeguards have passed through this program successfully.”

This year, about 45 children from New Zealand are also participating in the Junior Lifeguard Program, officials said.

Payne said instructors and the other lifeguards, who are distraught over Allyssa’s death, are still supportive of the program. The junior lifeguards are now halfway through the eight-week program.

Payne said the investigation must take its course. It’s too early to tell whether or not the city will re-evaluate its Junior Lifeguard Program, she said.

The city’s lifeguards were also stars of a Court TV reality show titled “Ocean Force: Huntington Beach OC,” which aired in early 2008. The program cast the spotlight on the everyday rescues and workings of Huntington Beach lifeguards.

Newport Beach Fire Department Chief Steve Lewis said his department will take a close look at its ocean training exercises based on the findings of this investigation. Newport Beach’s junior lifeguard program also does an identical training exercise, but Lewis said they do it differently because of the coastline.

“Our junior lifeguards train very hard,” he said. “We’re trying to get them ocean-safe and it can be a dangerous ocean especially in Newport. Our department has safety parameters. Mistakes can happen anywhere any time, but we want to make sure that if these incidents are preventable, we do everything possible to prevent them.”

For more information regarding this article please contact:

Jeffrey Marquart
(949)589-0150
jmarquart@marquartlawgroup.com