One killed, one injured following electric shock at the Lake of the Ozarks

One man was killed and another woman injured after they were swimming and felt electricity in the water.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, 21-year-old Marcus Colburn and Taylor Curley of East Moline, Ill. were swimming in the Wood’s Hollow Cove at the Lake of the Ozarks near the 22 mile marker on Sunday night.

When Colburn tried to get out of the water by using a dock ladder, he was shocked and fell into the water face down.

Both were taken to Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach where Colburn was pronounced dead. Curley received minor injuries in the incident.

Troopers said the cause of Colburn’s death is still under investigation.

Corporal Scott White, spokesman for the Highway Patrol’s Troop F, said the dock had a use permit, but he did not know when it was issued.

Colburn’s death comes five days after the Missouri Supreme Court dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit against Ameren Missouri, the company that owns the lake, for a nearly similar incident. Angela Anderson filed the suit in 2013, a year after her two children died while swimming near their dock. Since then, Anderson has been a supporter of changes to the current dock inspection process.

“The next time someone else dies, are we going to see the same exact story, and we’re going to hear the same exact fire districts and personnel coming up and just telling us what all the issues are?” Anderson told ABC 17 News last Tuesday, after the Supreme Court’s decision. “That’s not what we need. We need change.”

Currently, new docks must receive an inspection from a local fire district to obtain a permit. The same applies to any major renovations done to an old dock, or to docks built after 2006. Sunrise Beach Fire Protection District Chief Dennis Reilly said his jurisdiction deals with many old docks. However, with just one inspector employed by the department, Reilly said thoroughly checking older docks, along with large commercial ones, slows down their inspection process.

“You could come down here and just do, basically, whatever you wanted,” Reilly told ABC 17 News about the process before Ameren implemented the new rules in 2006. “And that’s part of this whole catch-up issue that we’re trying to deal with and we’re trying to get out and look at as much as we can.”

Ameren lists eight departments capable of performing dock inspections at the Lake of the Ozarks.

The Osage Beach Fire Protection District – the agency which serves the Wood’s Hollow Cove – did not return a call to ABC 17 News Monday evening.

Reilly said people living at the Lake of the Ozarks should do their “due diligence” before hiring an electrician to help inspect or install ground fault interruption devices on their docks. Since Missouri does not license electricians, Reilly said to ensure a business owns a business license from the city they work in, and to ask neighbors about companies they’ve used in the past.