Wrongful-death suit filed after Nov. 30 drownings in Bollinger County

After two children drowned in Little Whitewater Creek near Patton, Missouri, during flash flooding Nov. 30, a wrongful-death claim has been levied in Bollinger County Circuit Court seeking “joint and several liability” against the county and the father of the children.

A petition filed on behalf of the boys’ mother, Ellen Underwood, states Kayden and Brantley Luttrell were passengers in a 2004 Ford Explorer driven by their father, Jacob Luttrell, northbound on Bollinger County Road 356 when Jacob Luttrell attempted to cross a low-water bridge over Little Whitewater Creek.

Luttrell and Underwood were not married at the time of the incident.

According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol drowning incident report, the vehicle was swept away with the driver and three juvenile occupants entering the water. Two of the juvenile occupants were fatally injured during the incident, according to the report, and a third child — a 2-year-old — was seriously injured and transported by air ambulance to Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis.

The petition now filed on Underwood’s behalf seeks damages in excess of $25,000 from Luttrell and the county — an amount allowing the case to be heard at the circuit court level.

According to the claim filed, Luttrell breached duty of care by not keeping a “careful lookout,” not appreciating “the danger of crossing a low water bridge which had water flowing over it” and operating his vehicle in a “careless and imprudent manner”.

The claim also states Bollinger County should have known the bridge was dangerous due to improper design for the conditions in the area it was constructed, the inadequate warning signs, a lack of guardrails to prevent vehicles from being swept away and inadequate maintenance to prevent openings in the bridge’s foundation from clogging.

A case review is scheduled for 9 a.m. Aug. 13 before Judge Alan Beussink in Marble Hill, Missouri.