Terrible incident at Central Texas lake claims four year old girl

rrrr · Jun 26, 2017

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On Friday evening a four year old girl was killed while swimming in Belton Lake near Killeen when a 50 foot Gibson houseboat backed over her. The girl's father was also in the water, and both of his legs were amputated by the boat's propeller as he tried to save her.

Although the incident occurred over 48 hours ago, news reports are still vague as to what happened. Some accounts say the father was in the water, other stories state he jumped in to rescue the girl.

The driver of the houseboat was arrested and charged with a third degree felony, and police have not released any information other than his name.

I have searched multiple news websites looking for further information, but nothing more than what I have posted is known at this time.
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A 4-year-old died Friday after she was run over by a houseboat on Belton Lake.

Katlyn Oliver was playing in the lake near Temple Lake Park about 6:30 p.m. when the boat backed up and ran over her, according to KXXV-TV. She was trapped in the boat's propeller.

Temple police said her father jumped in to save her, but he also got caught in the propeller, which amputated both of his legs

Katlyn and her father were taken to a nearby hospital, where the 4-year-old was pronounced dead at 7:45 p.m. Her father remains in serious condition

The man piloting the houseboat, whom police identified as 44-year-old Jason Bernal of Killeen, was arrested and is being held in the Bell County Jail.

According to the jail, specific charges are pending for Bernal, but he is being held on a third-degree felony warrant.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/cri...run-houseboat-father-hospitalized-trying-save

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UPDATE: Bernal has been charged with homicide:

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Suspect charged with homicide for death of 4-year-old struck by - KXXV-TV News Channel 25 - Central Texas News and Weather for Waco, Temple, Killeen |
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Suspect charged with homicide for death of 4-year-old struck by houseboat
2017-06-24T02:15:41Z
2017-06-25T21:38:02Z
By Mayra Monroy, Digital Content ProducerCONNECT
And Brooke Bednarz, ReporterCONNECT
KAITLYN OLIVER

(Source: Lindy Earnshaw Morales)

4-year-old dies after being run over by houseboat in Temple
TEMPLE, TX (KXXV) -

43-year-old Jason Bernal from Killeen who was arrested on the night a 4-year-old died after being struck by a houseboat has been charged with criminally negligent homicide.

Bernal's bond is set at $150,000.

4-year-old Katlyn Oliver died from her injuries on June 23 at 7:45 at Scott and White Hospital according to Temple PD.

YoPengo · Jun 26, 2017

Tragic ☹️

RitcheyRch · Jun 26, 2017

Just tragic news to read.

renodaytona · Jun 26, 2017

Wow this is hard to read, I just couldn't imagine. Our little girl is 5 and loves to be in the water 100% of the time we are right there with her.

Old Texan · Jun 26, 2017

Damn that's awful.....RIP little Kailyn.

Royally PO'd · Jun 26, 2017

It's hard to even contemplate the situation. A friend's son was killed while being pulled on a tube, on a lake near Denver. The "boater" perp, went between the friend's boat and the tube, and the prop wrapped up the line until----

SJP · Jun 26, 2017

Royally PO'd said:
It's hard to even contemplate the situation. A friend's son was killed while being pulled on a tube, on a lake near Denver. The "boater" perp, went between the friend's boat and the tube, and the prop wrapped up the line until----

I think that is quite possibly one of the saddest things I have read in this site.

regor · Jun 26, 2017

This is one of my employee's cousins that he knows well. He came in this morning devastated. :thumbsdown

RIP Katlyn and prayers to Patrick.

RiverDiva · Jun 26, 2017

How terribly sad.

lenmann · Jun 26, 2017

Very sad start to a Monday morning. My thoughts are with all of those involved.

Chili Palmer · Jun 26, 2017

Was the driver of the houseboat one of the group/friends or was he just in the area? If he was a friend or family that would make it even more devastating.

regor · Jun 26, 2017

Chili Palmer said:
Was the driver of the houseboat one of the group/friends or was he just in the area? If he was a friend or family that would make it even more devastating.

Was not a friend from what I'm being told.

rivermobster · Jun 26, 2017

So awful. This makes my heart ache.

:cry:

rrrr · Jun 26, 2017

Chili Palmer said:
Was the driver of the houseboat one of the group/friends or was he just in the area? If he was a friend or family that would make it even more devastating.

News stories are now saying the houseboat operator pulled into shore in an area where people were swimming. Witnesses said he was asked to leave, and he reversed the houseboat at "full throttle" without first checking behind him.

milkmoney · Jun 27, 2017

Jus horrible to read

JD D05 · Jun 27, 2017

rrrr said:
News stories are now saying the houseboat operator pulled into shore in an area where people were swimming. Witnesses said he was asked to leave, and he reversed the houseboat at "full throttle" without first checking behind him.

Wow. That must have been a horrible scene

Ziggy · Jun 27, 2017

rrrr said:
News stories are now saying the houseboat operator pulled into shore in an area where people were swimming. Witnesses said he was asked to leave, and he reversed the houseboat at "full throttle" without first checking behind him.

JD Dearden said:
Wow. That must have been a horrible scene

Thought the same. No wonder they hit him with homicide so quick. Anger combined with frustration leads to leathal results much too often. This is going to have major mental victims.[emoji22]
Condolences to all involved.[emoji120]

regor · Jul 6, 2017

The dad Patrick lost his battle this morning, suffered a heart attack. :thumbsdown

Ziggy · Jul 6, 2017

regor said:
The dad Patrick lost his battle this morning, suffered a heart attack. :thumbsdown

:cry:

renodaytona · Jul 6, 2017

regor said:
The dad Patrick lost his battle this morning, suffered a heart attack. :thumbsdown

Dam.

milkmoney · Jul 6, 2017

regor said:
The dad Patrick lost his battle this morning, suffered a heart attack. :thumbsdown

That sucks. Life is so short

[emoji202]

MCnParker · Jul 6, 2017

Heart attack? Broken Heart? all the same in this situation. I could not even imagine, my daughter is 4 and I would be destroyed!

regor · Jul 6, 2017

MCnParker said:
Heart attack? Broken Heart? all the same in this situation. I could not even imagine, my daughter is 4 and I would be destroyed!

They said he didn't want to go on, broken heart for sure. Just brutal all around. :thumbsdown

OldSchoolBoats · Jul 6, 2017

regor said:
They said he didn't want to go on, broken heart for sure. Just brutal all around. :thumbsdown

Incredibly sad to read, I couldn't imagine losing a child in that manner.......

SoCalDave · Jul 6, 2017

I couldn't even imagine...how horrible.

rrrr · Jul 7, 2017

regor said:
The dad Patrick lost his battle this morning, suffered a heart attack. :thumbsdown

What a horrible, horrible thing this is. Tragedy doesn't describe it.

Hallett Dave · Jul 7, 2017

regor said:
The dad Patrick lost his battle this morning, suffered a heart attack. :thumbsdown

This is so sad!
I grieve and pray for the family of the victims.

AFTERSHOCK RACING+ · Jul 7, 2017

my heart is broken prayers for the family and friends

poncho · Jul 7, 2017

This is one of the worst things I have read in a while, I used this story this weekend when we had a big party going on our lake.

By far the largest group of people and boats we have had in over 15 years since the weeds started taking over, the state is now treating it and its blowing up with activity.

Friend of mine jumped in his toon with 10 people on board and started his motor, there were kids going off the slide on the dock and landing near his boat. He wasn't going anywhere, just warming it up but we agreed to not even start a boat until all of the kids were accounted for.

Told him this story later and I could tell it hit him like it did me he had 3 children and 5 grandchildren there.

Old Texan · Jul 7, 2017

One of the toughest tragedies I've ever heard about.....So very sad a precious little life was taken due to extremely poor judgement. With people in the water that close, the boat should never have moved without guidance from someone below. This whole deal should have never happened.

I would like to see information on the boat and if there is a secondary helm giving better vantage points.

http://www.tdtnews.com/news/article_29d3dc44-6282-11e7-a2d5-9707ec5e003d.html

Bernal reportedly ran over Kaitlyn at about 6:47 p.m. June 23 while backing up his three-story houseboat in the shallow water off Sandy Point at Temple Lake Park.

An arrest affidavit said that Bernal told investigators that he yelled ?clear? before putting the boat in reverse and heard no responses. Others at the park yelled for Bernal to stop. A video in police custody reportedly showed the boat in the water with people behind it in waist-deep water.

Bernal admitted to Temple Police Department investigators that he couldn?t see behind him and didn?t hear people yelling for him to stop, an arrest affidavit said.

A witness to the tragedy told a police officer that she previously told Bernal to stop parking his boat in the area because children swam there.

Bernal was released from the Bell County Jail the Sunday after Kaitlyn?s death after posting $150,000 bond.

rrrr · Jul 8, 2017

I used to hang out with a guy that had the same houseboat, a 50' Gibson. His boat had an auxiliary helm on the upper deck, but there was no way to see directly behind the boat from the helm. A spotter was a must.

I'm assuming the guy had an aux helm on his boat because he said he yelled "clear". Pretty stupid to assume someone in the water would hear him and know what it meant.

Kailuaboy89 · Jul 8, 2017

so sad all around...RIP to the deceased..

69 1/2 · Jul 8, 2017

I've been around lots of Gibson houseboats and every one of them had open exhaust above the water line. When he lit that thing up people should have scattered. He was possibly in a hurry and dropped it in reverse immediately after starting it. Tradgety could have been avoided by simply slowing down and taking a minute to clear the path.

Terrible incident at Central Texas lake claims four year old girl

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