Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — The mother of an Arizona teen who drowned in a culvert at Otter Creek Reservoir filed a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday against the federal agencies that manage the waterway.
Chase Leroy Clark, 17, of Kingman, Arizona, and others were swimming in a pond that feeds the reservoir in Piute County during a family reunion on Aug. 6, 2016. A culvert that draws the water into the reservoir creates a whirlpool in the pond, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.
Clark was sucked into the culvert that runs under Otter Creek Road and drowned despite efforts to free him.
Melisa Betley, the boy's mother, alleges in the lawsuit that the Interior Department, Bureau of Land Management and Army Corps of Engineers failed to remedy or guard against the hazard.