KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — At Norris Lake, visitors can choose to boat or ride water scooters. John Michael Curley went there Sunday afternoon with his daughter and two grandchildren.
His daughter Maria Curley had picked him up from her brother's house. Curley was going to spend a couple of days with them. After about an hour and a half on Norris Lake, Curley hopped on a personal watercraft. His daughter said she asked him to stay close, so she could reach him if anything happened.
This ride turned out to be Curley's last one on the water.
"I thought (he would) just go into the lake right with a couple of jet skis something he's not done in a long time, and it would be fun for him to do," said Maria.
She said that when she spotted her father later, she thought he was coming back. But instead, he went for another loop, she said.
In the meantime, she also saw there was a boat coming up behind him. She turned to talk to somebody and suddenly heard the sound of motor jet skis. Hearing the commotion, she tried to get some help and leaped in to get close to her father.
"I immediately threw my lifejacket on and started swimming out there," Maria said. "I was about 50 feet away from another boater that was out towards the scene and he told me to stop, 'Don't come any closer.' And I just kept screaming, 'That's my dad. He's deaf. He can't hear you if you're trying to talk to him. Try to use your hands, he can't hear you.'"
Curley was a single father of three. He graduated from the Tennessee School for the Deaf and he was an all-around athlete in high school, said Adrian Michael Curley, his son. He was good at swimming and skiing.
On Sept. 28, Curley would have turned 60 years old. Sometimes, it was hard for him to read or write if he didn't have his glasses, so Adrian said he often had to help him.
Adrian found out that he died from his sister through a phone call.
"He would do anything for his children. He would give anybody the shirt off of his back," Adrian said. "Never in my life would have thought that he would die that way. He loved boats. He worked at Bayliner and sea ray for a long time."
The details of what happened have not been confirmed yet. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said this case is under investigation.
Matthew Cameron, a spokesperson for the TWRA, said people are usually surprised to find there are similar boating laws as driving laws. The difference is that there's no speed limit.
But as a general rule of thumb, if two boats are crossing paths, the boat on the right would have the right of way. So, the other boat would have to slow down or stop and let the other one pass in front of them, according to TWRA.
When boats are going in all different directions, sometimes in close proximity to one another, it may be hard to determine.
In this case, nothing has yet been determined and Cameron said the best way to be safe during boating summer days is to take a course for boating safety.
"It takes time to perform a thorough investigation when an accident happens," Cameron said. "Anytime that there's serious injury or death involved, then we have to take a close look at what happened out there and see if any rules or regulations were violated and if anyone was at fault."
For Maria and Adrian, their most important goal is to spread awareness of safety and precaution. They said staying aware of possible warning signs of danger, or even extra patrolling may help keep people safe.
But Cameron explained it's not possible for the agency to be everywhere, and they're looking into ways to help as much as possible.
With extra precaution, Curley's grandchildren who are 5 years old and 2 years old could have been spared this experience, Maria said.
"Keep us all in your prayer," Maria said. "Not just my family, but everybody that was there. Everybody that seen it firsthand, everybody that was hands-on with it. We're all just in a tragedy, we're all just torn apart about the whole situation."
This incident marked the 12th boating fatality in the state so far this year. TWRA said they're concerned because Tennessee has an average of 22 boating fatalities a year, and this number is already halfway there.
West Tennessee has had four fatalities so far. Middle Tennessee has had five and all of them were on Percy Priest Lake. At the Cumberland Plateau, there have been two fatalities and in East Tennessee, Norris Lake marks the first one.
Yet, for the people who stay behind, the impact is huge.
"My oldest knows that. Papa is gone," Maria said. "It'll never be the same there after that."