Missouri, Iowa, and Arizona remember Brandon Ellingson

People all over the county came together Sunday night to remember a man who drowned at the Lake of the Ozarks in highway patrol custody.

It is a story ABC 17 News has followed since May, when 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson from Iowa fell off Trooper Anthony Piercy’s boat.

The trooper did not secure Ellingson in the life vest properly before handcuffing him.

Piercy was also driving the boat at an excessive speed before Ellingson fell overboard.

A vigil was held Sunday night at the Lake of the Ozarks, Des Moines, Iowa where Ellingson grew up, and Tempe, Arizona where Ellingson went to college.

The reason for the vigils was because Ellingson would have turned 21 on December 7.

At 5:25, the time Ellingson fell overboard, those in Iowa, Arizona, and Missouri stood together in silence for four and a half minutes – the amount of time Ellingson spent struggling in the water.

The music played during those four minutes was Ellingson’s favorite song.

“When I really listened to it then I found it a bit haunting in the words that were repeated over and over in the song were too painful to hear at the time. Those words: save me, save me,” said Sherry Ellingson, Brandon’s mother.

While no one at the lake knew Ellingson personally, his story has impacted many who are fighting for change.

“I would like to see this at least go in front of a jury. I think that was a slap in the face that they did not even get an official trial. Justice needs to be served, and it wasn’t, it was ignored,” said Leslie Chamberlin with Citizens for a Better Camden County.