Kitsap County facing lawsuit over 2021 Horseshoe Lake drowning death
Kitsap County is facing a lawsuit involving the 2021 drowning of a 17-year-old Port Orchard man, with the victim's family claiming the county was negligent due to a nuisance dock at Horseshoe Lake.
Will Huck died during the afternoon of June 28, 2021, after joining friends and coworkers at the lake on a day temperatures soared in the 100s around the region. Huck disappeared after entering the water and was eventually found unresponsive. Bystanders performed CPR on Huck before a rescue crew transported the teen to a hospital in Tacoma, where he was pronounced dead.
Chalmers Johnson, a lawyer representing the Huck family, filed a tort claim against Kitsap County and its parks department in December, seeking $20 million in total damages. After parties were not able to agree to a settlement during mediation, Johnson filed a complaint in Kitsap County Superior Court on April 11, claiming both wrongful death and negligence on behalf of the estate of Will Huck, and a claim of death of a child and negligence on behalf of Will's father, Chuck Huck.
Noting that the Huck family didn't wish to provide comment for this story, Johnson believes Kitsap County bears liability for the drowning incident due to the existence of the dock at Horseshoe Lake, one he said presented known safety issues. According to Johnson, Huck's body was recovered from under the edge of the dock at the time of his death.
Johnson calls the dock an "attractive nuisance," citing legal doctrine that states property owners may be liable if a hazardous object or condition exists on their property and that object or condition attracts and causes injury to trespassing children.
“That dock never should have been there," Johnson said. "They should never have let people jump off it or swim around it. They had all kinds of warnings that there was crazy overcrowding on that dock and they did absolutely nothing."
Krista Carlson, public information officer for Kitsap County, provided the Kitsap Sun with the following statement on the lawsuit: “The event at Horseshoe Lake was a tragedy for our community. We are unable to speak to the details of pending litigation but hope for a quick resolution.”
Public records used by Johnson in his tort claim and provided to the Kitsap Sun show that Horseshoe Lake's dock was built in the 1970s for boat tie-up purposes, but has typically attracted swimmers and other lake-goers in the warmer summer months.
Johnson believes a 2014 email shows that county personnel were aware of dangers associated with the dock. In the email, former parks resource superintendent Dori Leckner informed former parks director Jim Dunwiddie and current county risk manager Tim Perez of mounting issues with the dock, including rotten boards and pilings. Leckner noted issues with "the public jumping off and diving off this dock" and "some complaints because swimmers jump off into shallow water and hit the bottom."
Leckner also wrote that she'd previously spoken with two county risk managers, Barbary Razey and Mark Abernathy, and that both agreed the dock should be removed.
The dock wasn't removed, and it remains at the lake today, and attracted numerous people on the day of Huck's death. Johnson is convinced it played a role in the teen's loss of life. That remains at the heart of his lawsuit against the county.
“Will was a great swimmer. He was excellent swimmer," Johnson said. "He didn’t just drown."
Huck's death was the third drowning at Horseshoe Lake reported by the Kitsap Sun since 2007, one year after the county's lake/beach lifeguard program stopped operating. During the summer of 2007, a 4-year-old boy died while swimming at the lake. One year later, in the summer of 2008, a 6-year-old boy lost his life in the same waters.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Kitsap County facing lawsuit over Horseshoe Lake drowning death
