Family of Cedar Rapids drowning victim files wrongful death suit against Okoboji Boat Works

The family of a Cedar Rapids man who drowned last year while out on a rented boat in West Okoboji Lake filed a wrongful-death lawsuit this week against Okoboji Boat Works, the boat rental company.

Alexander Glover, 21, was boating on the Okoboji Lake on May 20, 2023 and had jumped out of the boat — a Harris Sunliner 240 called MV Big Eddie — to swim for a while. The boat drifted away and he attempted to swim back, but got tired and slipped under the water, which was 57 degrees and about 13 feet deep.

  Buy Photo

According to the lawsuit, the group he was with attempted to turn the boat on in order to bring it closer to Glover and assist him, but the engine wouldn’t start. The boat had been having trouble turning on earlier — before the party left the dock — and an employee had used a Booster Pac portable power source to start the engine, instead of replacing the battery or offering the party a different boat.

Members of the boating party asked the employee what would happen if the boat wouldn’t start again on the lake, and the employee left the Booster Pac on board the vessel, but didn’t give the party any instructions about how to use it. The party was unable to get the Booster Pac to start the boat when Glover was struggling, the suit states.

The suit also states that although there were throwable flotation devices on the boat, they were stowed away in a locker, and the party hadn’t been told where they were, so they weren’t able to use them to rescue Glover. The party attempted to throw him a docking line, which didn’t work, before several members of the party jumped in the water in an attempt to rescue him.

A nearby kayaker also entered the water to help with the rescue, but by the time Glover’s body was pulled out of the water, he had died from drowning.

Glover was at the lake with Khyra Glover, who the lawsuit refers to as his common law wife, and her family. She was pregnant at the time with his second child. His two children are listed as plaintiffs on the lawsuit, along with his mother, Sondra Williams, and Khyra.

The suit was filed Monday in Dickinson County. It doesn’t request a specific amount in damages but states the “plaintiffs respectfully pray for a judgment against defendants in an amount which will fully, fairly, and adequately compensate plaintiffs for all their injuries and damages.”

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com