PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) – The death of a 10-year-old boy killed while tubing with family on Butterworth Pond in July has been ruled a “‘tragic accident”. No charges will be filed against the man driving the boat that pulled Grayson Austin and another child in the tube, according to Prince George County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jay Paul.
Paul said his investigation determined when the driver turned the boat in the water, it sent the tube into the shoreline. Paul said no one who witnessed the accident reported the boat was speeding or that the driver was reckless.
“The boat made a turn in which it forced the tube into a partially submerged tree and then ejected both of the tubers, or children riding on the tubes, into the woods,” Lee Walker, with The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, told CBS 6 soon after the July accident.
The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries did indicate the boat the families were riding in “may have been too big” and the rope attached to the tube “may have been too long” for the pond.
A second child, a 9-year-old boy, was injured in the accident. He was in critical condition at the hospital following the accident. CBS 6 is working to learn that child’s current condition.
In July, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries told CBS 6 three parents of the young victims were inside the 19-foot boat that towed the two boys.
