LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. — The trooper who arrested 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson—and was driving the boat when Ellingson either jumped or fell overboard and subsequently drowned—is back at work, after being on paid administrative leave during the week following the incident, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Trooper Anthony C. Piercy was at the helm when Ellingson went into the water on June 1, 2014, and the highway patrol says the officer jumped in to try and rescue the Clive, Iowa man but was ultimately unable to save his life. Ellingson’s body was recovered the next morning.
Now MSHP Troop F Communications Officer Paul Reinsch says the agency is investigating the incident in an attempt to understand exactly what happened on that tragic Saturday at the Lake of the Ozarks.
“They were still interviewing witnesses this weekend and into this morning,” Reinsch said on Monday, adding the investigation is “a step-by-step-by-step process” that tries to reconstruct everything that happened “from the time [Piercy] observed the initial boating violation to make the stop until [Ellingson was] placed under arrest, in the boat, on the way… every single event that occurred.”
Video cameras that were mounted on the Donzi center-console patrol boat Piercy was driving should facilitate that investigation. Reinsch said he could not confirm whether all MSHP boats are equipped with cameras, but he says this one definitely was.
One detail that is expected to emerge is the extent to which the officer administered field sobriety tests on Ellingson, who was arrested and handcuffed on suspicion of Boating While Intoxicated. Troopers are equipped with a “pass-fail” breathalyzer device, which can be used as part of the field sobriety test, but the results of those devices can not be used in court, Reinsch explained. But there are multiple methods troopers can use in an attempt to determine whether a boater is intoxicated.
“Some of the tests, obviously, you have to be taken to a dock to do,” he said. This leaves open the possibility that the officer may have been taking Ellingson to a dock to perform any tests. Those details are expected to be released in the investigative report.
Piercy has been with the MSHP for 18 years, but has only been working on the water for one year, after completing his water patrol training in June of 2013.
“He’s not totally assigned to the water. He’s assigned to a road zone, and they help out on the Lake in busy times, especially during the weekends in the summer.”
Earlier this year, the MSHP announced it had been restructuring Patrol coverage around the Lake, including “dual job training” for “enhanced marine enforcement,” which allows some officers to be trained to operate on water and on land—wherever they are needed most, based on varying traffic patterns.
Piercy was the only officer on the boat, and some have asked whether the presence of an additional officer might have saved Ellingson’s life, and whether it could keep a similar incident from occurring again.
“Any time a critical incident, happens, we’re going to review everything,” Reinsch said of MSHP policies and procedures. “Whether or not they’ll put another trooper in the boat with them, I don’t know… most of the time the troopers do work alone in their boat.”
Ellingson had been wearing a lifejacket while he was on the patrol boat, according to the original MSHP incident report. But it is not clear how the vest came off once he was in the water. “We’re trying to determine what exactly happened: if it was placed on correctly, or if it wasn’t… How did it come off? That’s what we’re trying to determine,” Reinsch said.
That question, along with many others, may be answered when the investigative report is released, possibly some time this week.
