Former Marine risks life to save boating accident victims

A former U.S. Marine risked his life to save the lives of two boating accident victims in the Intracoastal Waterway. He was only able to save one.

The incident occurred last Tuesday at around 2:30 p.m.

William Ross, 19, was piloting a 16-foot fiberglass boat, powered by a 40 horsepower Yamaha outboard motor with tiller steering, with his cousin, Tony Ross, 17. Both teens were Houma residents.

Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Sergeant Richard Purvis said the boat struck some submerged debris, possibly a log.

Purvis, who is investigating the incident for Wildlife and Fisheries, said William Ross didn’t claim much boating experience.

The shock knocked the stick out of William Ross’s hand, whipping the stick and the boat into a turn so hard, one side of it dipped beneath the water.

“It was just a submerged log. It was just a freak accident,” said Purvis. “Neither one of them were real strong swimmers.”

The force of the turn and the sudden drag from the water filling up the boat flung both men overboard.

William Ross did have his kill switch tied with a chord and the motor cut off the moment he left the boat, Purvis said.

“The current wasn’t that big a factor right there. It wasn’t pulling that hard at the time. But, you’ve got to remember there’s all kinds of boat and barge traffic that goes up and down the Intracoastal,” said Purvis. “What it probably was, was some debris or a log that was sucked up by one of the passing tugs. It’s not uncommon to have items like that floating around in that area.”

Former U.S. Marine Kenneth Pellegrin, 51, was pulling into his driveway at the time of the incident.

He said he saw an ice chest and a gas can floating in the bayou and knew there was trouble.

Pellegrin had his friend, Kevin Lebouf, 42, call 9-1-1 for help, while he went searching for a flotation device of some sort.

Pellegrin found a life jacket in his neighbor’s boat and took it. He didn’t bother to take his own tennis shoes and pants off before rushing to the water.

“I didn’t bother taking nothing off. You can’t waste time when that happens. You have to react immediately,” said Pellegrin. “When you go into that mode, everything kicks in.”

He swam what he estimated to be about 150 yards to the other side of the waterway, where William Ross was crying out for help.

The 19-year-old didn’t know how to swim. He had his life jacket on incorrectly and it kept coming up over his head. And, he was wearing steel toe boots.

“He couldn’t swim a lick. He couldn’t even dogpaddle, hardly,” said Pellegrin.

Pellegrin said William Ross was concerned about his cousin and resisted attempts to remove the boots and rescue. Pellegrin managed to drag him to a nearby barge.

“He was starting to go into shock and he was freaking about how he didn’t want to come out of the water without his cousin,” said Pellegrin. “He was willing to stay in the water himself and not come out. So, I had to do what I had to do to get him to safety.”

There, despite the slime, Pellegrin was able to get on top of the barge and pull William Ross up onto it.

He had the teen lie down with his head on a life vest, as he dove back into the water to search for Tony Ross.

The younger teen was not wearing a life jacket and did not know how to swim.

Purvis explained state law does not require a person over the age of 13 to have a life vest on while riding in a boat. The law only requires vests be kept in the boat.

Pellegrin said he searched around the length of the boat, feeling for a body. The murky water reduced his visibility to zero.

He didn’t find anything and kept diving under, even releasing his own life jacket so he could go under water.

“I took my life jacket off and went down as far as I could. I was trained to do that,” Pellegrin said.

The Houma man served in the Marine Corps’ special forces and worked with the Navy SEALS division.

He said the current near the surface wasn’t that strong, but the undertow at just below six feet was.

He continued his search until the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office was able to get a boat from the shore to search. Pellegrin was the only person to actually go into the water, however, to search.

Even from the shore, he searched with binoculars.

Despite Pellegrin’s efforts and those of the officers on scene, Tony Ross drowned.

“He was just a non-swimmer and didn’t have his life jacket on,” said Purvis. “He probably couldn’t tread water.”

The boat did sink, but was recovered with the help of a nearby barge that pumped the water out of it.

Pellegrin said just the bow was showing above the water.