Usher's ex-wife Tameka Foster fights to drain Georgia lake after son's fatal accident
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The ex-wife of R&B singer Usher is urging officials to drain Georgia's largest lake, where her 11-year-old son was fatally struck by a jet ski in 2012.
Tameka Foster, 52, has collected more than 3,300 signatures since May 30 on a Change.org petition calling for "urgent action to address the dangers" associated with Georgia's Lake Sidney Lanier. Foster believes it is "imperative to drain, comprehensively clean, restore, and implement improved safety measures" at the lake to ensure the well-being of people engaging in personal watercraft and recreational activities.
A jet ski struck Foster's son Kile Glover, who was floating on an inner tube being pulled by a pontoon boat in the lake. Kile was airlifted to Children’s Healthcare at Egleston Hospital in Atlanta. He had no brain activity when Usher, who had helped to raise the boy since he was 4, joined Foster at the hospital. Kile was removed from life support two weeks after the accident.
Jeffery Hubbard, a close friend of Kile's father (Bounce TV founder Ryan Glover), was reportedly driving the jet ski erratically when the accident happened. He was found guilty in 2014 of homicide by vessel, serious injury by vessel, and reckless operation and unlawful operation of personal watercraft, and he was cited for a boat traffic violation.
Read more: Usher's stepson, Kile Glover, dead after life support removed
According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, between 1994 and 2018, heavy traffic on the lake caused more than 170 boating and drowning deaths. The U.S. Coast Guard said boating accidents in the United States killed 636 people last year and injured more than 2,200. Alcohol consumption often plays a role.
Kile’s stepmother, Marsha Glover, cried as she told the jury that Hubbard was driving the jet ski recklessly before he struck Kile and a 15-year-old friend. The friend survived the accident but suffered a cut on her head and a broken arm.
"He was just zooming back and forth, yelling with no hands standing on the jet ski. Just really crazy and erratic," Glover told the court.
Glover said she and her husband, who was at the helm of the pontoon boat towing their son's inner tube, saw Hubbard racing toward them.
"I looked up and I saw Jeff coming as if he was coming directly toward the boat," she said. "And before I knew it, there was a big cloud of water."
She told the court that seconds later they realized he had struck the children.
Read more: Guilty verdict in boating death of Usher's stepson, Kile Glover
Lake Lanier is an hour outside of Atlanta and covers 60 square miles with depths of up to 160 feet. It provides drinking water for approximately 5 million people, according to the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper conservation group. At the south end of the lake is Buford Dam, which generates hydroelectric power for the Atlanta metro area.
"Lake Lanier has a dark and sordid past, marked by multiple tragic incidents that have resulted in the loss of innocent lives," Foster's petition reads. "One such incident involves the heartbreaking loss of my son 11-year-old Kile Glover, whose life was tragically taken in an avoidable JetSki incident.... This incident, among others, underscores the urgent need for proper zoning, safety, and complete overhaul measures within the lake."
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
