NEWS4SA Reported First: A local family hopes their heartache will lead to a new law intended to make boating safer for Texans. As News 4 Trouble Shooter Jaie Avila reports, their daughter died in a terrible boat accident they feel might have been prevented with a simple change.
“We miss her. We suffer every day. We will as long as we’re here,” says James Gorzell.
It’s been almost seven years since he and his wife Donna lost their daughter Kali in a tragic boating accident. She was fishing with friends off Port Aransas when the boat went out of control and Kali was thrown overboard.
The 16-year-old Smithson Valley High School honor student was struck by the propeller, which was still running because the engine’s kill switch was not engaged.
“The driver that day, our friend Robert, believes that if he had used his kill switch that day, it would have stopped the engine before it struck Kali, and she’d probably still be here,” Gorzell says.
After Kali’s death, the Gorzell’ s convinced the Coast Guard to run tests on the boat involved and pushed for safety changes. Just last December congress passed a law requiring engine kill switches on all boats less than 26 feet in length.
Many boats already have kill switches. The driver of the boat wears a lanyard connected to it. If the driver loses control of the boat, or falls away from the console, the kill switch is engaged.
Some boats have wireless kill switches that will trigger if any passengers go overboard.
Just this week Kali’s family and friends testified in Austin for a bill that would be called Kali’s law, which would require boaters to use kill switches if they have them.
A Texas Parks and Wildlife Department official also testified, and gave an alarming estimate: Of the 29 fatal boating accidents reported in Texas last year, the agency believes 26 might have been prevented if a kill switch had been used. That would have reduced the total number of boating deaths to just three.
Back in San Antonio, Kali’s bedroom remains empty, decorated with pictures, awards and art projects: reminders of a promising young life.
“I don’t want anyone to suffer like we’ve suffered. Our lives would be so different. From 16 (years old) to now, she would be 22,” said Kali’s mother Donna Gorzell.
“We can’t bring Kali back but our hope is no one else has to go through what we’ve gone through,” James Gorzell added,
Related:
NMMA Launches Boating Safety Series
Winter Boating Safety Tips, From The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office