Family files 2nd suit in duck boat deaths
INDIANAPOLIS – Members of the Coleman family, which lost nine of 11 vacationing relatives when a duck boat sank in a severe thunderstorm in Branson, Missouri, filed a second federal wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday against the sightseeing tour’s operators.
The estates of Belinda and Angela Coleman are listed as plaintiffs.
“Our family tree is broken,” said Lisa Berry, a sister of Belinda Coleman. “The pain and the hurt we feel is incredible.”
One by one, almost 50 members of the Coleman family identified themselves and listed the loved ones they lost when the land-water vessel capsized in the storm July 19. The emotional statements came at the beginning of a news conference Tuesday.
Lawyers for the estates of the two Coleman family members represent the estates of two other Coleman family members who died in the tragedy.
One family member shuddered and sobbed as she recounted how she is tortured by what her relatives’ last thoughts may have been as they were trapped in the boat while it sank.
“I just can’t imagine what they must have been thinking, what they must have been feeling in those moments,” said Kyrie Rose, niece of Belinda Coleman. “I know, for me, I get choked up when I drink a bottle of water and it goes down the wrong pipe the wrong way. And in my mind, I’m like: ‘Damn, it’s burning. That has to be the worst.’ ”
Seventeen people drowned in Table Rock Lake near Branson, including three generations of the Coleman family. Only two Coleman family members aboard the boat survived: Tia Coleman and her nephew Donovan, 13.
Berry and Rose spoke on behalf of the rest of their family.
Rose said she misses her cousin Glenn Coleman’s laugh and his babies, Reece, 9, Evan, 7, and Arya, 1. Her cousin Angela Coleman was an amazing baker and would have made an elaborate birthday cake for her son Maxwell, who died a week before his third birthday, Rose said.
Berry said her sister Toni was a good, patient listener, and Toni’s husband, Horace “Butch” Coleman, was just like family to them.
Family members of Irvin Coleman and his great-nephew Maxwell, 2, filed the first lawsuit Sunday.