When Natalee King and her family went paddleboarding in Central Florida in early June, they were surprised to hear teenagers shouting downstream.
As they paddled closer, King realized the seriousness of the situation: a group of white teenagers had left their Black friend, Marques, stranded on the riverbank. He couldn’t swim.
“Look, I’m gonna die,” Marques yelled across the river. “Wait for me.”
His friends laughed in his face, hurled slurs at him, and told him he’d learn to swim the hard way that day. A video of the incident captured one of the teens making monkey noises in the background.
Marques had a life jacket, but it was a child’s size, much too small for him, and conditions that day made things worse.
“Water is so unforgiving,” King said in a June 3 follow-up. “It can turn deadly in a split second. There was a current that day, there was wind, and he said he couldn’t swim well. That was a recipe for disaster. So I knew right then and there I wasn’t gonna leave him to just cross on his own.”
‘Please, No, My Hair!’: Black Woman’s Desperate Pleas Ignored as She’s Grabbed and Thrown into Pool by Two White Men at Summer Party
‘What Century Are We In?’: MAGA Arizona Pastor Faces Backlash After Claiming Black People Were Meant to Live Under White Rule
King reassured the teen that he wasn’t going to drown. She and her husband, Justin White, had him grab hold of a strap attached to their boards and pulled him to safety on the other side.
When news broke of Nolan Wells’ death, many viewers circulated King’s video alongside it as a warning about water safety and the company one keeps.
Wells had been among a small group of white teenagers at a large Fourth of July celebration on Horn Island, located off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He vanished during the event.
@nataleeeking Marques made it home safe and his mother @Tipp and I have been in contact #marques #paddleboarding #nolanwells #safety #badfriends @Justin white ♬ original sound – nataleeeking
After an extensive search, his body was recovered from the water near the island’s northwestern tip on July 6. His parents noted he was a good swimmer, and the exact cause of death remains unknown.
King said she reposted her video of Marques on July 8 “in light of the Nolan Wells case.”
She assured viewers that Marques is safe and doing well. Marques’ mother Tyffany posted her own TikTok video, saying, “I have met with the parents face-to-face and discussed my concerns.”
Viewers flooded the comments with gratitude to King and her family for recognizing the gravity of the situation.
One person wrote, “It didn’t matter if he had a life jacket on; he felt UNSAFE, PERIOD! Thank you to this family!”
Many found the situation ‘heartbreaking’.
Another commenter offered her own read on the teens’ behavior: “As a Black woman, I just honestly want to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. The things they were yelling showed how they really felt about him. This hurts my heart so much.”
