Troubled Waters

Published 4:43 pm Saturday, May 21, 2016

Drowning deaths or boating accidents on public waters in Texas are often little more than statistics printed in black and white for those who are not involved in some way.

But the truth is when there is a death there is a human in that body bag in the back of an ambulance. That person is someone’s parent, child, a relative of some order or a friend.

Last year the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department did an interesting video that interviewed several who had been in boating accidents or nearly drowned. It put a face with the statistics.

That, however, was only half the story. The other part is the first responders, game wardens, sheriff deputies and others who are too often called out to recover a body following an on-the-water accident.

“We see some terrible things on the wildlife side, but when it comes to a human being absolutely it is the worst,” said Smith County-based game warden Chris Swift of the task of recovering a victim. “We had a situation out here (Lake Palestine) where we had a 3-year-old drown and it took us a couple of days to recover him and it really hits home especially for the game wardens and everyone else who is helping with the search and rescue that have kids at a similar age at home. To lose an infant or a child, or anyone, but especially someone that is young, you try to think how could we or anyone have prevented this from happening.”

Last year there were 146 reported boating accidents resulting in 32 fatalities and 97 injuries in Texas. Traditionally the state ranks among the top in both accidents and fatalities. Neither are numbers to be proud of.

“When you hear boat accidents, honestly alcohol is the first thing that comes to my mine. Second thing would be weather. If it was in the wintertime, duck season, and the weather was really bad and really windy I would think of that first, but usually I would say when a game warden hears boat accident he is thinking alcohol or he is thinking speed,” Swift explained

In 2015, TPWD reported alcohol was a factor in 21 of the boating accidents. Beyond that wardens issued 124 boating while intoxicated citations and seven others to minors for boating under the influence. There was one case made for a BWI assault and another for BWI manslaughter.

Lake Austin proved to be the state’s most dangerous waters for boating in 2015 with five deaths and two injuries. Buffalo Springs Lake east of Lubbock was a surprising second with seven injuries. Three lakes – Canyon, Cedar Creek and Nasworthy – all had one death and four injuries while four, lakes LBJ, Caddo and Palestine, along with the Sabine River recorded five injuries.

Working boating accidents are just one of the duties for game wardens. They are also often called to help in the case of drownings. There were 11 non-boating related drownings on public waters in 2015.

“Not all drownings happen in a boat. There are some drownings where a child may walk off a pier or fall in the water. That is something you have to think about. Water safety is not just in a boat. We had a gentleman drown (on Lake Palestine) last year and he was actually trying to help a lady. He didn’t have his life jacket on. He wasn’t in a boat. It was basically a Good Samaritan scenario. He lost his life trying to help somebody. They are all bad situation,” Swift said.

The worst part while working an incident is when wardens admit to themselves there is not going to be a good outcome, and they have to tell the family. It is that one moment that no one could ever become comfortable with.

“There is a timeline where it goes from a search to a recovery,” Swift said. “It is the bad part of the job. It is a word we don’t like to use especially.”

Wardens rush to the scene as quickly as they can. There are witnesses who saw the victim disappear in the water, and some of them may have already made a rescue attempt. At least for a moment both the wardens and family have hope. Then the truth sets in.

“There is a timeline, a very short timeline, where it goes from a search to a body recovery. That is one of the humps, you get to the recovery part you are going to have to use equipment and divers. There is going to be people and media there and you are trying to return that person to his family in the best way you can,” Swift said.

At that time the words do not come easy, and they are often few.

“We are going to get you your loved ones as fast as we can,” Swift said is about all you can say.

“It is horrible. It is like any police officer or anybody telling someone, when you get from the recovery search, ‘Hey they have been down 30, 45 minutes we are changing phases and going to recovery.’ No one wants to hear that. There is always that bit of hope, but when you are looking at a piece of water and there is no timber and no island and you have witnesses that saw them go down, it is horrible to tell somebody that,” Swift said.

Have a comment or opinion on this story? Contact outdoor writer Steve Knight by email at outdoor@tylerpaper.com. Follow Steve Knight on Facebook at Texas All Outdoors and on Twitter @txalloutdoors