‘The worst pain I’ve ever felt;’ Mom of Clark Co. teen dead after boat capsizes urges water safety

CLARK COUNTY — A New Carlisle woman is remembering her teenage son who died after being pulled from the water at a gravel pit in Clark County Saturday.

Preston Jackson, 16, was one of three teenage boys who Clark County Sheriff’s Deputies said were trespassing at a gravel pit on Osborn Road, according to an incident report. The boys grabbed a boat they found and put it in the water.

Jackson’s mother, Amy Owens, said boat capsized when all three boys shifted to the same side at the same time. Owens, also of New Carlisle, said her son did not know how to swim and had a fear of water.

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“So when he hit the water, they said he acted like he may have had a panic attack,” Owens said.

Neither Jackson’s friends, not first responders could save him. The incident report stated that crews pulled Jackson from the water an hour after he went under. His mother said he did not have a life jacket.

Owens told News Center 7′s John Bedell that she talked with her son about water safety the night before the incident.

“I had really got on to him and told him he needed to stay away from here, it was a dangerous pond,” she said.

She said Jackson, who had just finished his junior year at Tecumseh High School, was a loving boy. She said he loved to fish and it was what he was doing when he died Saturday morning.

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“He was one great kid and there’s just not enough words to explain the type of person he was,” she said.

On Tuesday, Owens said she hoped speaking about this tragedy would help others.

“Hopefully, we can save somebody else’s child’s life, because this is the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life,” Owens said.

In the extreme heat and as we continue into the summer, Owens urged people to only swim in places where it’s safe to do so and to wear a life jacket.

“My biggest thing I can’t stress is that if he had a life jacket on, my son would be here today,” she said. “Always, always practice to be safe.”

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