Family of boy who drowned after lightning strike sues Orlando rowing club
The family of the 12-year-old boy who died after his boat capsized during inclement weather on Lake Fairview has filed a lawsuit against North Orlando Rowing, the company leading the class the boy was participating in when he drowned.
Following a lightning strike, Langston Rodriguez-Sane’s boat capsized on Sept. 15. After being resuscitated and admitted to Advent Health Orlando Medical Center, he died three days later on his 12th birthday.
Langston’s family in their suit called North Orlando Rowing negligent and accused the staff at the rowing club of failing to have proper weather safety equipment; failing to get the children out of the water and to safety before a storm hit; failing to have a coach nearby monitoring Langston, who they say was “a true beginner” at rowing; and failing to have a working defibrillator on site to save his life.
“Langston’s death was preventable and was a direct and proximate result of the negligence of the Defendants,” a lawyer for the family wrote in a wrongful death lawsuit filed last month in Orange County circuit court.
The family is suing North Orlando Rowing; College Park Lions Club, which owns the land where North Orlando Rowing operates; and the U.S. Rowing Association, of which North Orlando Rowing is a member.
A woman who did not share her name but identified herself as the president of North Orlando Rowing declined to comment on the lawsuit when reached by phone Monday.
According to the complaint, Langston’s family learned of the rowing club because of an advertisement that was posted in the high school where Langston’s older sister is a student. Both children started classes in September.
When Langston’s boat capsized, he had only been part of the rowing club for one week, the lawsuit said.
According to the complaint, Langston was in a boat with five other rowers. He was chosen to be the “coxswain,” meaning it was his job to steer, keep watch for hazards in the water and navigate for the other rowers. Though he was inexperienced, he was chosen for this role because he was the smallest and the lightest of the people on his boat, the lawsuit said.
In the complaint, his family said the staff at North Orlando Rowing failed to give Langston a swim proficiency test, did not provide adequate training for the role of coxswain and did not have a coach close by to supervise him.
During the rowing session, the weather shifted. According to the lawsuit, the U.S. Rowing Association recommends its member facilities have weather detection devices as part of their safety measures but the club did not have that equipment on site.
Langston’s family argues U.S. Rowing should have known that its member facility had no such equipment and should have required it before Langston’s death.
Even when the threat of a storm was clear without the weather tracking equipment and posed “an obvious hazard to the safety of child rowers on the lake,” the complaint said, staff at North Orlando Rowing failed to get participants out of the water and to safety in a timely manner.
Langston’s boat capsized after a lightning strike. When Langston was pulled from the water, staff attempted to use a defibrillator they kept on site but it did not work, which the family said was also negligent because the facility should have maintained its life-saving equipment.
Fire rescue was able to resuscitate Langston before he was taken to Advent Health.
Another boy who was on Langston’s boat, Gavin Christman, also drowned. Gavin’s body was not recovered until the next day. According to a funeral notice, Gavin was 13.
Langston’s family is seeking damages for the mental pain and suffering caused by their son’s death.
