An 18-year-old man was killed Sunday while tubing on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway near Pecan Street in Houma, Louisiana. The driver of the boat was immediately tested for alcohol and was found to be “clean.” Houma is located in the Mississippi delta and is home to more commercial boats than most any place in the country. The whole area has a seafaring tradition and was saddened by this recreational accident.

This is the sad still-life photo after a tragic accident involving the boat and tube seen here.

From Houma Today by Raymond Legendre --

Authorities say a boat pulling an inflatable raft made a sharp U-turn, throwing the teen into a row of pilings.

The teen, who family members identified as Glen Verret Jr., was pronounced dead at Terrebonne General Medical Center a short time later, Wildlife and Fisheries senior agent Thomas DeWitt said.

Authorities said they don’t suspect alcohol was involved.

 

Glen Verret Jr.

The boat’s driver, Westley M. Whitten, 27, of Houma, was given an alcohol breath test immediately after the crash, and it came back “clean,” Houma Police reports say.

The state Wildlife and Fisheries Department, the agency in charge of the investigation, didn’t immediately provide details, including the number or names of others on the boat.

Verret’s family gathered Sunday afternoon at the Terrebonne Coroner’s Office Morgue, along the Intracoastal not far from the where the collision occurred. 

Verret’s older sister, Vivian Verret, said she is upset that her brother’s body was brought to the morgue before his immediate family arrived at the hospital.

“They should have waited for my mother,” the 20-year-old said.

Verret’s mother was inconsolable as she stood near the morgue’s front door, sobbing and saying “I want my baby.”

Verret’s sister said Glen Verret was an Ellender graduate who played football in high school and enjoyed painting cars. He would have turned 19 July 22, she said.

Robbie Thomas, whose boat was tied to a dock near the canal where the crash happened, said she saw the boat pulling Verret and another boy moments before his death.

“They were on their bellies,” Thomas said of the pair.

“They flew by.” Thomas and her husband, Doyle, are from Florida and are passing through in their 42-foot boat, the “Robbie D.” The couple have spent the past two days in Houma. Thomas said the boat went by fast, but its speed was similar to others she’s seen during her stay.

“I’ve seen all kinds of boats fly past,” she said.