A boat driver killed a young woman by turning too fast and crashing her into another boat while she was tubing, her friend claims.
Kaileigh Seidel, 24, died on June 22 from injuries she sustained in the crash on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon.
Police said she was “thrown” from the boat around 8pm, but her friend Millie Lovea, who was on board and watched helplessly, blamed the driver.
Lovea said the driver “swept back and forth in the river” and took a turn too quickly, sending the tube — and Seidel — into the other boat.
Kaileigh Seidel, 24, died on June 22 from injuries she sustained in the collision on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon
Seidel was tubing on the river with her friend Millie Lovea (pictured together just three hours before she died), who witnessed the accident
She claimed Seidel begged the person driving the boat to slow down and drive less erratically, but they didn’t listen.
“My beautiful best friend and I had just gotten out on the water and had a great time when everything changed in an instant,” she said.
‘Seeing my friend hurt and feeling helpless is something I can’t shake. Calling her family was even worse.
‘I am overwhelmed with guilt and sadness, wondering why things happened the way they did.
‘I keep replaying the events in my head and wondering what I could have done differently or better to save her.
“Survivor guilt is real, and it’s something I’ll carry with me every day.”
Her friend claimed that Seidel begged the boat to slow down and drive less erratically, but they didn’t listen.
Her family said Seidel was not normally one to worry, and for her to beg the driver to slow down must have been very dangerous.
Seidel’s family thanked friends and Portland residents for supporting her family and sharing their love
Seidel’s aunt Rachelle Hunsperger, who heard Lovea’s story, insists that the boat driver should be charged in her death.
‘This wasn’t just an accident. She didn’t “fall off” a boat. This boat operator must be held accountable,” she said.
Hunsperger said KPTV that Seidel was not usually worried, and when she begged the driver to slow down, it must have been very dangerous.
“That just doesn’t seem like her at all. She was always saying, ‘Let’s go, let’s have fun.’ If she told someone to slow down, she was probably scared,” she said.
‘This was not a simple accident. I feel like someone is definitely guilty and hopefully that will come out.”
Seidel’s boss said she had ‘amazing energy, a loving heart and a smile that could light up the world’
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s River Patrol is investigating Seidel’s death
Seidel’s sister Aliyah also punched the boat driver, who did not know Seidel well, for their alleged dangerous behavior.
“She was so innocent and so violent because of someone else’s decision to be reckless,” she told the local news station.
“She was very spontaneous and she loved to have fun. She was invited on a boat and she had no idea that it would be the last day of her life.”
Aliyah thanked friends and Portland residents for supporting her family and sharing their love for her sister.
The boat collision occurred on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon
The river runs right through the center of Portland, Oregon’s largest city
“When I last saw her on Friday night, I was helping her move her things out of her apartment because she was moving in with my dad to save money,” she wrote on Facebook.
“She said to me, ‘Thank you so much, I literally don’t have anyone else.’ She didn’t know she had hundreds of people.”
According to Terra Yoder, Seidel’s boss, she had “amazing energy, a loving heart and a smile that could light up the world.”
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office River Patrol is investigating Seidel’s death after a 911 call came in “reporting a woman being struck by another boat.”