The Branson duck boat accident happened on the evening of July 19, 2018, when an amphibious tour boat called Stretch Duck 7 sank during a sudden severe storm on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri, killing 17 of the 31 people aboard. The victims ranged in age from one to 76 and included nine members of a single family from Indianapolis. Every civil lawsuit filed by the families was resolved through confidential mediated settlements by January 2020. Every criminal charge brought against the boat’s captain and two Ripley Entertainment supervisors was dismissed, the last of them on December 31, 2025. Congress passed new federal duck boat safety requirements in December 2022.
How the Boat Sank
Stretch Duck 7 was operated by Ride the Ducks Branson, a franchise of Ripley Entertainment. It carried 29 passengers and two crew that night. The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm watch hours before departure and upgraded it to a warning one minute before the boat left the boarding facility. The manager on duty told the crew to run the water portion of the tour first because of the incoming weather.1NTSB. Sinking of Stretch Duck 7, Table Rock Lake
About five minutes after the vessel entered the lake, a derecho struck. Gusts hit 73 mph and generated waves three to five feet high. Water poured through a spring-loaded air intake hatch on the bow that could not be securely closed, flooding the engine compartment. The vessel had no internal subdivision and no built-in flotation, so the water spread through the hull. The boat sank about 250 feet from the exit ramp at roughly 7:08 p.m. and settled at a depth of about 80 feet.2NTSB. Marine Accident Report MAR-20-01
Survivors said the captain had told passengers life jackets were available but would not be needed. When conditions worsened, the fixed canopy over the passenger area and the closed side curtains made it very hard for people to get out.3ABC News. Photo Shows Happy Family Before Duck Boat Horror Fourteen people survived. The vessel was raised on July 23, 2018, for NTSB examination.4WorkBoat. Duck Boat Raised From Missouri Lake for NTSB Analysis
Who Died
Nine of the 17 dead came from the Coleman family of Indianapolis. Eleven Colemans had boarded together; only two survived. The dead were Glenn Coleman, 40; his three children, Reece, 9, Evan, 7, and Arya, 1; Glenn’s parents, Horace “Butch” Coleman, 70, and Belinda Coleman, 69; his uncle Ervin “Ray” Coleman, 76; his sister Angela “Angiee” Coleman, 45; and Angela’s two-year-old son, Maxwell. Glenn’s wife Tia Coleman and a 13-year-old nephew, Donovan Hall, survived.5Springfield News-Leader. Duck Boat Sinking in Branson – What Happened on Table Rock Lake
Steve Smith, 53, a retired elementary school teacher and church deacon from Osceola, Arkansas, and his 15-year-old son Lance died together. Steve’s 14-year-old daughter Loren survived with a concussion and was credited with pulling a younger girl to safety.6WRAL. Remembering the Smith Family
The other victims were William Asher, 69, and Rosemarie Hamann, 68, of Missouri; married couple William Bright, 65, and Janice Bright, 63; Leslie Dennison, 64, of Sherrard, Illinois, who according to her family pushed her 12-year-old granddaughter Alicia upward as the boat went under, saving the girl’s life; and Bob Williams, 73, a retired pastor who was serving as the boat’s land driver.7Patch. IL Grandmother Drowned Saving Girl, 12, in Sinking Duck Boat84029TV. Remembering the Victims of the Table Rock Lake Crash
Civil Lawsuits and Settlements
Families of the victims filed 31 lawsuits against Ripley Entertainment and other businesses. At least one family sued for $100 million. By January 2020, every claim had been resolved through mediated settlements with confidential terms. Ripley Entertainment spokeswoman Suzanne Smagala-Potts said the company had “actively pursued mediated settlements” and that “all claims against Branson Ride The Ducks have now been resolved.”9The Indiana Lawyer. Owner of Duck Boat That Sank Killing 17 Settles Final Lawsuit Settlement amounts were not disclosed. The families of William Bright and Janice Bright reached confidential settlements in November 2018.10Kansas City Star. Families of Branson Duck Boat Victims Reach Settlements Ride the Ducks Branson also committed to paying medical bills and funeral expenses for affected families.4WorkBoat. Duck Boat Raised From Missouri Lake for NTSB Analysis
Criminal Charges That Never Stuck
Three Ride the Ducks employees were charged in connection with the 17 deaths: Captain Kenneth Scott McKee, 54; general manager Curtis P. Lanham, 39; and operations supervisor Charles V. Baltzell, 79. Both the federal and state cases against them ended in dismissal.
The Federal Case
A federal grand jury returned a 47-count superseding indictment in June 2019 charging the three men with felony seaman’s manslaughter and misdemeanor counts of operating a vessel in a grossly negligent manner.11U.S. Department of Justice. Two More Ripley Employees Indicted for Misconduct and Negligence Resulting in 17 Deaths In December 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri dismissed the indictment, ruling that Table Rock Lake was not “navigable water” under federal admiralty law and that the charged statutes therefore did not apply. On May 30, 2023, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal in a 2-1 decision. Judge Jane Kelly, writing for the majority, said: “We decline the government’s invitation to expand the scope of a criminal statute without direction from Congress.”12U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. United States v. McKee, No. 20-3671
The State Case
In state court, McKee, Lanham, and Baltzell each faced 17 counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter in Stone County, Missouri. On April 5, 2022, Judge Alan Blankenship dismissed the charges, ruling there was no evidence the defendants were aware of the storm’s specific gust front. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office refiled the charges later that month.13NBC News. Judge Dismisses Criminal Charges in Missouri Duck Boat Accident On December 31, 2025, Judge Johnnie Cox dismissed the refiled charges, ruling there was no probable cause. No one has been convicted of any crime in connection with the 17 deaths.14KY3. Judge Dismisses Charges Against Captain, 2 Supervisors Involved in Deadly Ride the Ducks Sinking
Safety Warnings That Went Unheeded
The NTSB found the probable cause of the sinking was Ripley Entertainment’s decision to keep running waterborne tours after a severe thunderstorm warning had been issued. Contributing factors included the Coast Guard’s failure to require sufficient reserve buoyancy in amphibious vessels and its ineffective action on the emergency egress problems caused by fixed canopies.2NTSB. Marine Accident Report MAR-20-01
After a 1999 duck boat sinking in Arkansas involving a vessel called the Miss Majestic, the NTSB had issued 22 safety recommendations for amphibious passenger vessels. Only nine were ever implemented. Two of the most important, requiring reserve buoyancy so a flooded vessel would stay afloat and requiring removal of canopies that trapped passengers, were classified “Closed—Unacceptable Action” after the Coast Guard declined to act on them.15NTSB. Marine Safety Recommendation Report 19/01 Coast Guard inspection records showed the vessels on Table Rock Lake were not supposed to operate when winds exceeded 35 mph or wave heights exceeded two feet, conditions well below what the derecho produced.16KERA News. NTSB – Missouri Duck Boat Sinking That Killed 17 Could Have Been Avoided
The New Federal Duck Boat Safety Law
Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced the Duck Boat Safety Enhancement Act, and provisions from that bill were signed into law on December 23, 2022, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023. The law requires duck boat operators to ensure passengers wear life jackets during waterborne operations, remove fixed canopies or use designs that do not block escape, and install underwater emergency lighting. It also directs the Coast Guard to set new standards for minimum buoyancy and weather preparedness.17Kansas City Star. Congress Enacts Duck Boat Safety Regulations
The Coast Guard was required to begin rulemaking within six months. The agency missed that deadline but issued an interim final rule on September 11, 2023, codifying the immediate safety requirements. Operators were given 120 days to comply. Longer-term buoyancy and structural standards were reserved for a future regulation.18Federal Register. DUKW Amphibious Passenger Vessels
What Happened to the Operator
Ride the Ducks Branson never reopened. Ripley Entertainment announced the attraction would not run in the 2019 season and declined to say whether the closure was permanent. The Branson property was repurposed for a new attraction called “Branson Top Ops.”19Kansas City Star. Ride the Ducks Branson Will Not Operate in 2019 Ripley eventually sold its remaining fleet to an Arkansas-based investment company. A separate operator, Branson Duck Tours, began offering amphibious tours in spring 2022 using Hydra-Terra vehicles with foam-filled hulls designed to prevent sinking. Those tours run on Lake Taneycomo rather than Table Rock Lake and follow current DOT and Coast Guard regulations rather than the grandfathered exemptions that governed the original duck boats.20KMBC. Branson Missouri Duck Boats Returning With New Vessels