Parents of teen who drowned settle wrongful-death suit

The parents of a 19-year-old college sophomore who drowned at a popular water park near Rolla settled a wrongful-death lawsuit against the business and its owners for $1 million.

David Jackson was a Saint Louis University High School graduate and three-sport star who was preparing to return to Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, where he played football alongside his twin brother. He had joined two friends at Fugitive Beach, a former quarry converted into a public swimming attraction.

Attorney Craig Schlapprizzi said Jackson was swimming to an island dock with a friend on Aug. 8, 2017, when he began to struggle and went underwater. It took rescuers another 15 to 20 minutes to locate Jackson, Schlapprizzi said. The teen was airlifted to Mercy Hospital St. Louis, where he spent eight days in intensive care before dying.

Parents Joyce Russell and Derond Jackson sued the park and owners Mark and D’Ettra Kearse in Phelps County Circuit Court in January 2018, alleging a failure to adequately train its lifeguards and a lack of depth markers, among other factors.

“There was no mandatory life jacket requirement for all swimmers, nor were there designated swimming areas, despite the extensive surface area,” Schlapprizzi said. “And the water was dyed a deep blue color, which contributed to low visibility and delayed rescue efforts.”

Two months prior, an 18-year-old from Belleville, Illinois, also drowned at Fugitive Beach. Online court records show that the teen’s family settled its own wrongful-death lawsuit for $900,000 in August. Those two deaths were preceded by a 6-year-old Fenton boy’s drowning death at Fugitive Beach in 2014.

Defense attorneys did not respond to several requests for comment, but initially they argued contributory negligence on the part of Jackson, noting in court filings that he could not swim and was not wearing a life vest.

The defense also noted the presence of “numerous warning signs” on site indicating the absence of lifeguards and the advisory to “swim at your own risk.”

By summer 2018, the park had implemented new rules requiring the use of life vests by swimmers, Mark Kearse said in an interview with St. Louis television station KSDK.

The suit was settled in June, court records show, with Russell receiving $485,347, Derond Jackson receiving $161,782 and the remaining balance paid to Schlapprizzi’s law firm.

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