A Massachusetts Boy Scout, aged 11, died in a mysterious boating accident on a trip with other troop members. Since Keoni Hubbard's bizarre and tragic death on July 7, 2023, in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, his parents are suing.
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John and Jena Hubbard have sued the Boy Scouts of America alongside its Daniel Webster Council. This council runs the Griswold Scout Reservation and Camp Bell where their son passed. According to the Daily Mail who acquired the lawsuit, it states the defendants were negligent in both training and supervision. It also alleges that the staff put all the Boy Scouts in danger.
Family Sues After Their Boy Scout Son Dies In Mysterious Accident
During this trip on Manning Lake, the organization put eight scouts aged 11 to 14, including Keoni, on a small boat. Attorney Tucker Merrigan told WBZ-TV that the staff "irresponsibly entrusted the care and safety of those children to an utterly unqualified young boat operator."
The boat operator was only 18 years old and had just received his license 10 days before the tragedy. Investigators also discovered that the 18-year-old received around one hour's worth of training to learn the boat controls.
This is actually in violation of the Boy Scouts' own rules, as the family's attorney explained. A supervisor must be at least 21 years old according to their rules. On top of that, as per Boston.com, many Scouts we weary of this 18-year-old counselor. They told investigators that the boat operator demonstrated a "disturbing pattern" of dangerous behavior before Keoni's death.
When recalling the last time the child's mother saw him, she remembered wishing him to be safe. "I gave him a hug. I told him I loved him, and I said, 'Have fun and be safe,'" Jena told the outlet. "And that haunts me, because he was not safe."
The mother then urged other parents to not put their trust in the Scouts in a news conference concerning the lawsuit. "Keoni hated people getting hurt. In his honor, we are fighting so that no family goes through the pain and suffering that we are trying to survive every day."
When the father spoke with WBZ, he described the situation as being trapped in hell. "I am trapped in my own version of hell on Earth - a hell where the best part of my day is when I wake up, and for half a moment, I forget my son is dead."
