I doubt any of you know this, but I spent a summer working as a camp counselor in upstate New York. I was decently trained before I started working with the campers, but even so, it was extremely tough to look after so many kids and keep them out of harm's way.
Now, two former camp staffers in the US are looking at the worst possible outcome that can happen when you don't ensure a camper's safety is your number one priority.
The former camp staffers recently pleaded guilty to reckless vehicular homicide charges relating to a deadly personal watercraft (PWC) crash that took place on Old Hickory Lake on July 16, 2024, and killed 10-year-old Jack Gear. The staffers involved were Joshua Kennington and Savannah Remington, and both were given a sentence of two years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to the Class D felony.
According to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the two camp staffers were riding PWCs recklessly and collided with each other. Gear was riding on the back of Remington's PWC. The staffers were riding fast and making sharp turns to try and throw the campers off the back, likely for fun, as it's a common thing to do with a passenger on a PWC.
The issue, or at least one of the issues, that came to light during the $10 million lawsuit filed by Gear's family was that the Scouts organization failed to properly train or supervise its employees.
Speaking from personal experience, PWCs are not inherently natural to pilot. On a motorcycle or while driving a UTV, you roll off the throttle to slow down and give the vehicle more grip. When I threw a leg over the most powerful production PWC, it took a while to get my senses up to speed, so I can only imagine how an untrained rider would react.
Our thoughts here at RideApart go out to the family and friends of Jack Gear.
