LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Legal Newsline) - A dad whose seven-year-old son died on a Fathers Day vacation in Arkansas is suing The Nature Conservancy.
Stephen Allen's son Jarrett was playing in shallow water in 2021 near the Lydalisk Bridge when he was sucked into a culvert and became stuck, the May 10 lawsuit filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court says.
After 10 minutes, he was pulled out by a rope around his ankle but died the next day. Allen is suing The Nature Conservancy, which had purchased the land in 2019.
The lawsuit says it failed to post any signs for dangerous underwater currents.
"Visibility of the Lydalisk Bridge's culverts depends on the water level," the lawsuit says, noting water had washed over the bridge that day. "When the water level is high, the inlet culverts are all but invisible from the water's surface.
"Despite the high velocity at which water enters the inlet culverts, there were no signs or other warnings around the Lydalisk Bridge advising swimmers of the dangerously strong current."
Allen is also suing project manager Clayton Word and the Federal Insurance Company. He is represented by Kendel Grooms of Campbell & Grooms and Jerry Kelly of Kelly Law Firm.