On Sunday, a tragic incident occurred at a Utah state park where a 3-year-old boy, identified as Walter Greer from Salt Lake City, lost his life. While on a family outing at the Echo State Park reservoir around 4:45 p.m., young Walter fell off a boat and was struck by a propeller.
Walter is believed to have passed away instantly, with rangers pronouncing him deceased after retrieving him from the water. The heart-wrenching incident has left those close to Walter in a state of profound sorrow, as his family expressed that they are deeply shattered by this tragic loss.
“Walter was a happy, rambunctious three-year-old with a big personality. He loved Spiderman, trucks, boots, and trains and was excited to start preschool,” his aunt, Allison Meakin, said in a GoFundMe post.
As per the account provided by the family, Walter’s parents, Alex and Doug, along with his two sisters and a number of friends, were present on the boat and witnessed the distressing incident unfold. Authorities mentioned that the gathering had been on a lakeboard-style boat for a day dedicated to water skiing when Walter unfortunately lost his balance and fell overboard.
While the incident remains under examination, Rangers have no indications of any malicious intent and lean toward the perspective that it was an unfortunate and catastrophic accident.
There were no indications of impairment, and at the time of the incident, Walter was wearing a life jacket. The passing of Walter is the most recent addition to a series of tragedies involving propellers.
In the previous week, a notable executive in the New York book publishing scene, Adrienne Vaughan, met a tragic fate during a family vacation on the Amalfi Coast. She collided with the propeller of the swiftly moving boat her family had rented. The accident occurred when their skipper crashed into a large yacht carrying a wedding party, resulting in Vaughan and her husband being propelled into the water.
A week prior to this incident, a 6-year-old girl from Arizona lost her life in a tragic accident where her mother unintentionally ran over her with a boat.
The girl had been swimming in the water, unbeknownst to the group of 12 individuals she was spending the day with. Unfortunately, her leg was severed by the propeller of the boat while it was in motion.
