ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – A settlement has been reached in the federal civil suit filed against the state of Missouri by the family of the Iowa man who drowned while in Water Patrol custody at the Lake of the Ozarks two years ago.
The state has agreed to pay Brandon Ellingson‘s family $9 million. Craig Ellingson says the suit won’t bring his son back, but it did answer some questions.
“We just wanted to get to the bottom of it and find out what exactly really happened, and we’ve done that through all the depositions and not tarnish my son’s name, which they were trying to do.”
Brandon Ellingson was 20 years old when he drowned on May 31, 2014, after being thrown from a Water Patrol boat while handcuffed and wearing an improperly fastened life jacket that slipped off.
He had been arrested on suspicion of boating while intoxicated by Highway Patrol Trooper Anthony Piercy, who was working on the lake on that Memorial Day weekend.
Elllingson says blame for his son’s death goes all the way up to Gov. Jay Nixon, “when he merged the Water Patrol with the Highway Patrol and did away with all the training, going from 28 weeks down to four weeks.”
Piercy is awaiting trial for involuntary manslaughter.
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