Joe Graves has heard versions of what happened on that tragic December morning when his 15-year-old son, Jimmy, died in a boating accident in the Indian River Lagoon, just south of the 17th Street Bridge.
But he’d rather not share them.
“I’ve talked with some people, and I have a vague idea of how it happened, but I really don’t know all the circumstances,” Graves, a local attorney, said Monday from his office in Vero Beach. “I’d like to see the final report before I make any comment.”
So would I.
In fact, I’ve been requesting for months the final incident report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which has jurisdiction over the tragedy. Each time, though, I was told the investigation wasn’t complete.
Now, it is – sort of.
Rob Klepper, spokesman for the FWC’s law enforcement division, said the lead investigator handling the case filed the final report Monday, nearly six months after the boy’s death.
However, he added that the agency’s legal department needs to redact some of the information before the report can be released to the public. That could happen by the end of this week, he said.
“I’m not surprised it’s taken this long,” Graves said of the FWC’s investigation, which went well beyond the 90 days agency officials had estimated. “I’ve handled cases like this as a lawyer. When there’s a death involved, it just takes time.”
Klepper said no charges have been filed in connection with the Dec. 4 incident, which, according to the FWC’s initial report, involved another 15-year-old boy who was operating the boat when Graves’ son fell overboard at about 10:45 a.m.
The initial report stated that the driver of the 17-foot Boston Whaler throttled down and Graves’ son tumbled over the boat’s bow while it was moving, fell into the water and did not resurface.
A St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office dive team, brought in to assist local agencies and equipped with a sonar scanning unit, found the body underwater three hours later.
The initial report did not name the teen driving the boat, nor did it say whether the boys were wearing life jackets. And the FWC has not provided further information in the months since the incident.
On Monday, Klepper said he was not permitted to provide even a general summary of the report’s contents.
“I can only provide the final incident report,” he said, “and only after it has been redacted.”
Graves said the two boys had been “friends for a long time,” but he did not wish to identify his son’s buddy. He said the families, too, were friends, and that there has been “no civil action” filed in connection with the incident.
That could be because of the relationship between the boys and their families. Or it could be because the boy driving the boat did nothing wrong – that what happened on that ill-fated Sunday morning was nothing more than a horrible, heart-breaking accident.
That there’s no one to blame.
Let’s hope that’s what the FWC’s long-awaited report tells us. There’s already been enough suffering, enough angst, enough loss. Even though he will confront no legal consequences, the boy driving the boat will carry this haunting memory for the rest of his life.
Let’s remember Jimmy Graves, who, by all accounts, was a terrific kid and a credit to our community. Many who knew Jimmy are doing so by supporting a foundation created in his name.
Let’s embrace his family’s efforts to seize upon a terrible tragedy and turn it into something valuable – a place for our children and grandchildren to gather and play.
Back in March, the county commissioners voted unanimously to sell the ballfields across from Vero Beach High School to the Graves’ foundation, which plans to use the property as a youth sports complex.
The 11.6-acre plot, which the county unsuccessfully tried to swap for property owned by the School District, was appraised at more than $500,000. The commissioners agreed to sell it to the foundation for $250,000 – with a condition.
The property must be used for youth-oriented purposes, such as athletic fields or a park. Joe Graves, who wants to name the facility the “Jimmy Graves Sports Complex,” pledged it would never be used for development.
“The foundation has received a tremendous amount of support,” Joe Graves said. “We should be closing on the ballfield property later this month.”
By then, we should have the FWC’s findings, which, I’m sure, will stir our emotions, forcing us to remember how we lost one of our own at such a young age.
I can only hope that, once we’ve read the report, it eases the community’s pain – and the agony endured by his family.
