As the country and the music industry react with shock and horror to the news that Kyle Glover, the son of Tameka Foster and stepson of Usher Raymond, has been declared brain dead after a boating accident on Georgia’s Lake Lanier, perhaps it’s time for authorities to do more to oversee recreational boat traffic at resorts like Lake Lanier.
Foster has been at her son’s side since she arrived at Atlanta Children’s Hospital at Egleston on Friday after the accident, while Usher has been there since Saturday night. Foster reportedly gave a two-word comment to Radar Online, simply saying, “He’s bad.”
The family has not made a decision about whether to take the child off life support.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources said alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the incident, which happened near Holiday Marina when Kyle and an unidentified 15-year-old girl sat in inner tubes being pulled by a boat and they were struck by a 38-year-old man on a jetski.
The DNR didn’t release the names of those involved in the incident, but the DNR said the man on the jetski was part of the same group that the children were in.
I have been on boats on Lake Lanier and I have even pulled my children in inner tubes on the lake. When the lake gets crowded on holiday weekends, it is easy to see how this accident could occur; the children might be as much as 30 or 40 feet behind the boat, their bodies and faces nearly submerged in the water as the boat drags them along possibly at high speeds. If a man on a jetski isn’t paying attention, it is possible that he might not even see the children being pulled by the boat. To rent a boat or a jetski on the lake, all you need is a driver’s license and the possibly dangerous vehicles are handed over, with no oversight and little policing on the lake. An accident such as this one was almost inevitable.
The incident on Friday came just four days after the funeral for two brothers killed in a June 18 boat wreck at the lake. Jake and Griffin Prince died when the pontoon boat they were on with family members was struck by a fishing boat.
In light of all this tragedy on the lake—perhaps three deaths in less than a month—it is past time for Georgia authorities to take a much more active role in controlling lake traffic during peak times.
—Nick Chiles
