Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agents are investigating a fatal boating incident in Cameron Parish that occurred on Sept. 2.
A two-vessel head-on collision on Lake Calcasieu resulted in the death of Griffin LeBlanc, 11, of Broussard.
According to witnesses, LeBlanc was operating a personal watercraft with another 11-year-old boy as a passenger near Hebert’s Landing around 4:30 p.m. LeBlanc and the boy were jumping another vessel’s wakes when they jumped into the path of another oncoming 22-foot vessel.
After the head-on collision, the boys were ejected into the water. LeBlanc’s personal flotation device (PFD) came off when he hit the water while the other boy’s PFD remained on his person.
The boy who was the passenger on the personal watercraft was retrieved from the water by a bystander and rushed to the shore and then taken by ambulance to Lake Charles Memorial Hospital. The boy is still in the hospital listed in serious condition and is expected to live.
Search and rescue teams arrived on scene and were able to retrieve the deceased body of LeBlanc around 10 p.m. His body was turned over to the Cameron Parish Coroner’s Office.
LDWF will be the lead investigative agency for this fatal boating incident. Agents suspect at this time that LeBlanc was not wearing a properly fitted and in good working condition PFD. Alcohol is not suspected at this time for either operator involved in this incident.
LDWF along with the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office Dive Team and the Cameron Parish Sheriff’s Office participated in the search.