The captains of two Ride the Ducks boats that battled rough waters before one sank last month are targets of a criminal investigation, according to federal court documents filed Wednesday. 
 
 Kenneth Scott McKee, captain of the sunken Stretch Duck 07, and Barry King, captain of Stretch Duck 54, “are aware of their status as targets of the Government action,” the document says. They are under investigation for allegedly operating the vessel in a manner that endangered lives. 
 
 Seventeen of the 31 passengers on Duck 07 died when the boat sank in Table Rock Lake near Branson on July 19. Duck 54 was also on the water but made it to shore. 
 
 The documents filed in U.S. District Court Wednesday also indicate that Ripley Entertainment, which owns the duck boats, is another “target” or “subject” of the investigation. And they say that “several Ripley agents, employees, or officers have been identified as targets and/or subjects of the Government action.” 
 
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 The U.S. Attorneys’ manual defines a “target” as “a person as to whom the prosecutor or the grand jury has substantial evidence linking him or her to the commission of a crime and who, in the judgment of the prosecutor, is a putative defendant.” A “subject” of an investigation, the manual says, “is a person whose conduct is within the scope of the grand jury’s investigation.” 
 
 King’s wife turned to social media after the sinking that night to tell Facebook friends her husband was OK. She wrote that he was also on the lake that night, at the same time, and faced rough weather. 
 
 “He said he rode 4 ft waves and prayed,” she said. “He and his passengers rode on angels wings to safety. Our heart aches for the Captain and passengers of the Duck that capsized.” 
 
 One woman responded: “So thankful Barry was guided to safety! Definitely on angels wings! Prayers for all.” 
 
 The Star repeatedly has attempted to talk with both captains. Those attempts have been unsuccessful. 
 
 SHARE COPY LINK Three members of a family describe the duck boat tragedy as seen from the Showboat Branson Belle on Thursday at Table Rock Lake near Branson. 
 
 Cellphone video taken from the nearby Showboat Branson Belle, which was docked at the time of the storm, captured the two boats as they struggled in the lake. A viral video of the incident ended right before McKee’s boat went under. He was among the 14 survivors. 
 
 The first 911 call about Stretch Duck 07 came at 7:09 p.m., 14 minutes after the boat entered the water that night. 
 
 The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 6:32 p.m., specifically naming Table Rock Lake. The warning said winds in excess of 60 mph were possible. In reality, winds on the lake reached 73 mph with waves of more than 3 feet. 
 
 According to a recent report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the captain and driver were on board at 6:28 that evening when someone stepped onto the back of the boat and told the crew to take the water portion of the tour first. It isn’t known who that person is. The driver, whose job is to steer the duck boat on land, died in the sinking. 
 
 The U.S. Coast Guard referred the investigation to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri on Aug. 13 to pursue possible federal criminal charges. That office, based in Kansas City, includes the Table Rock Lake area. 
 
 According to the document filed Wednesday, the Coast Guard notified the U.S. Attorney’s Office that its preliminary probable cause determination was that the sinking of Stretch Duck 07 and the loss of lives “resulted from the misconduct, negligence, or inattention to the duties of the captain of the vessel at the time of the sinking, which is a violation of federal criminal law.” 
 
 The certificate of inspection for Stretch Duck 07 set stringent guidelines for wind and water conditions. It states that the “vessel shall not be operated waterborne when winds exceed 35 mph, and/or the wave height exceeds two feet.” 
 
 The Coast Guard also notified the U.S. Attorney’s Office of its preliminary probable cause determination “that the operation of Stretch Duck 54 on July 19, 2018, was undertaken by the captain of that vessel in a grossly negligent manner that interfered with the safe operation of the vessel and endangered the lives or bodies of persons on board the vessel.” 
 
 The federal investigation is being conducted in addition to a separate criminal probe by the Missouri attorney general. 
 
 Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office confirmed to The Star on July 30 that it had opened a criminal investigation to explore the possibility of violations of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. 
 
 The act forbids fraud and deception in the sale of goods and services. 
 
 Several lawsuits have been filed in federal and state courts, three on behalf of passengers who died and one on behalf of a survivor. Another was filed earlier this month by a man who jumped in the lake to try to help pull passengers to safety. 
 
 The latest suit was filed Aug. 20 in U.S. District Court by the daughter of William Asher, a St. Louis man who died in the tragedy. Jennifer Asher alleges that Ripley Entertainment “took the lives of seventeen people when it made the conscious decision to disregard the known dangers of its vehicles in volatile weather and instructed its employees to begin their excursion on the water.” 
 
 Wednesday’s filing asked the court to put a hold on the discovery process for all lawsuits until the criminal investigation is complete. Prosecutors say the action is necessary to prevent civil lawsuits from interfering with a federal probe. 
 
 Ripley spokeswoman Suzanne Smagala-Potts said last week that the company was cooperating fully with federal and state authorities. 
 
 “We are providing all documentation and materials requested in the case,” she said in an email to The Star. “However, as a party to the ongoing NTSB investigation, we are refrained from commenting to the media on the matters being investigated.” 
 
 The court documents filed Wednesday, however, cite a federal law regarding negligence or misconduct when operating a vessel. 
 
 According to that law: “Every captain, engineer, pilot, or other person employed on any steamboat or vessel, by whose misconduct, negligence, or inattention to his duties on such vessel the life of any person is destroyed ... shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.” ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Attorneys representing Indianapolis families whose relatives drowned at Table Rock Lake while on a "Ride the Ducks" tour filed a lawsuit Sunday against Ripley Entertainment alleging wrongful death, outrageous conduct and negligence. The lawsuit filed in federal court seeks at least $100 million in damages for the estates of Ervin Coleman and Maxwell Ly, three of the 17 victims who died in the boat sinking on July 19. 
 
 The duck boat carrying 31 people sank after taking on too much water during a storm, and the lawsuit contends that Ripley Entertainment recklessly put the lives of its passengers at risk by ignoring storm warnings and failing to take corrective safety measures. The lawsuit says that Ripley ignored repeated safety warnings over two decades about the duck boats' canopies, and the danger they pose during an emergency. It cites a 2002 National Transportation Safety Board report that found the canopies "essentially caged them (the passengers), making escape in limited time available extremely difficult." 
 
 The suit also calls out unheeded warnings made by inspector Steven Paul, who told the company in August of 2017 that the duck boats' bilge pumps that remove water from the hull could fail in bad weather because they were improperly placed in the exhaust system. 
 
 A number of other duck boat deaths are mentioned in the court filing, including a 1999 incident where 13 people drowned in Hot Springs, Arkansas, a 2002 incident in Ontario, Calif., where four died, two incidents in Philadelphia where a total of three people died, a 2015 incident in Seattle where five died and a 2016 incident in Boston where one person died. In 2000 following the Hot Springs incident, the NTSB said that immediate action was needed to provide reserve buoyancy for the duck boats, but the suit says the company ignored this recommendation. 
 
 On the day of the sinking, the lawsuit says company operators ignored a severe thunderstorm warning issued at 6:32 p.m. The captain and driver of Stretch Duck 07's were told to take the water portion of the tour before the land in an effort to beat the storm, a reversal of the original itinerary. As passengers boarded, the captain said he had monitored the weather before the trip. 
 
 When the boat sank, the lawsuit contends it was the culmination of defective design, ignored safety and storm warnings and breaks in company protocol. It says that operators should forego water entry if there is a risk of winds greater than 35 miles per hour and waves higher than 2.5 feet. The storm warning said winds could reach up to 60 miles per hour, and the boat encountered waves as high as 4 feet. 
 
 Based on those circumstances, protocol calls for the captain to tell passengers to put on their life jackets, but that didn't happen. During a 6:50 p.m. safety briefing the captain said passengers would not need their life jackets. 
 
 On Friday, the NTSB released an initial report following a review of video recordings, and within four minutes of being on the water, whitecaps rapidly appeared on the water and wind speeds increased around 7 p.m. The captain returned to the driver's seat, and the driver lowered plastic curtains, but court documents say as the boat sank, the curtains and canopy entrapped the passengers and crew. 
 
 At about 7:04 p.m., a bilge alarm went off. The NTSB said the captain reached down and the bilge alarm ended. 
 
 In the final minutes of the recordings, water splashed inside the area where passengers sit. At about 7:06 p.m., the bilge alarm once again went off, and a minute later, the inward-facing camera ended while the duck boat was still on the water's surface. A 911 call came in a 7:09 p.m. reporting that the duck boat sank and people were in the water. 
 
 There are nine counts in this lawsuit, including: two counts of Wrongful Death, two counts of Negligence, Strict Product Liability, Outrageous Conduct (punitive damages), two counts of Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress, and Violations of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. 
 
 Earlier on Sunday, FOX4 received notice that trial attorney Robert Mongeluzzi is holding a news conference on Monday at 10:30 a.m. Mongeluzzi is listed in this lawsuit as "pending admission" and has litigated other wrongful death suits involving duck boats. We will live stream the news conference on Facebook and at fox4kc.com. ||||| BRANSON, M0. — It had been a nice summer day here in the Ozarks, and the duck boat filled with sightseers was coasting through a calm Table Rock Lake. Then the wind began to pick up and the water started to churn as a powerful thunderstorm crashed through. 
 
 Rain pummeled the amphibious boat, waves tossed it like a toy, 65 mph gusts of wind hit it with spray, and water crashed over its bow. As the boat struggled toward the dock and safety for its 29 passengers and two-member crew, it was overwhelmed. Gripping video footage from the lake showed the boat seesawing and lurching in unrelenting waves. Before long, the small, flat-bottomed, half-boat half-bus capsized and sank, plunging to the bottom of the lake and killing more than half of the people aboard. 
 
 By the end of the day Friday, authorities had recovered the bodies of 17, a list of victims that crossed generations, ranging from 1 to 76 years old, many of them out-of-state visitors — including nine members of one family. Authorities said the captain survived, while the boat’s driver was killed. Branson Mayor Karen Best identified the driver as local resident Robert “Bob” Williams, 73. 
 
 Late Friday night, authorities released the names of the passengers who died. Four, including Williams, were from Missouri: William Asher, 69; Rosemarie Hamann, 68; Janice Bright, 63; and William Bright, 65. Two — Steve Smith, 53; and Lance Smith, 15 — were from Arkansas. One, Leslie Dennison, 64, was from Illinois. 
 
 The remaining nine were from Indiana, all from the Coleman family: Angela, 45; Belinda, 69; Ervin 76; Glenn, 40; Horace, 70; Reece, 9; Evan, 7; Maxwell, 2; and Arya, 1. Only two members of the family survived. 
 
 Duck boats are a popular tourist attraction in cities across the country, allowing passengers to sightsee by land and water in the same vehicle. The boat here, near this resort town in southwest Missouri, had been on a regular tour around Table Rock. Though Table Rock Lake is normally placid, some authorities and experts said Friday that it is unclear why operators did not heed forecasts and warnings that the potentially violent storm was approaching. 
 
 [The violent storm behind the duck boat tragedy was well-predicted, not ‘out of nowhere’] 
 
 Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader told reporters that he believed the boat — which he said was one of two duck boats still on the lake during the storm — sank because of the weather. When asked Friday whether he thought operator or design error played a role in the tragedy, Rader declined to answer. The second boat made it back to the dock safely. 
 
 Jim Pattison Jr., president of Ripley Entertainment, which bought the duck boat operation in 2017, said in an interview Friday that it appeared the storm came on suddenly on a lake that normally is “very, very flat,” taking the crew by surprise. He said the boat captain has 16 years’ experience. 
 
 “We’re absolutely devastated,” Pattison said. “Our hearts just really go out to everybody, and it’s just something that is very sad.” 
 
 Suzanne Smagala, a spokeswoman for Ripley Entertainment, said that the company later became aware of the severe weather alert that had been issued before the storm and that boat captains receive weather alerts by email or text message. “However, we don’t know if the captain received it” on Thursday night, she said. 
 
 “When the weather picked up, the captain turned it around,” she added. The boat was heading toward the shore when it capsized. 
 
 Though tourists might have known generally that thunderstorms were expected sometime Thursday, meteorologists had been tracking the storm for hours, and their forecasts offered considerable lead time. The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch at 11:20 a.m., nearly eight hours before the storm struck, and at that time, it predicted “widespread damaging winds likely with isolated significant gusts to 75 mph possible.” 
 
 The Weather Service then issued a severe thunderstorm warning — indicating a violent storm was imminent — at 6:32 p.m., about 30 minutes before police were called about the boat capsizing. 
 
 Marshall Shepherd, a past president of the American Meteorological Society and a professor at the University of Georgia, tweeted that the “tragedy was completely preventable.” 
 
 “This is not 1901,” he wrote. “We have satellites, advanced radars, good weather models, all short-term weather information showed that storms approaching well before the boat was on the water.” 
 
 Authorities said they expected to recover the sunken boat late Friday from its resting place in 80 feet of water. Rader said the boat went down in about 40 feet of water but rolled to a deeper point and ended up on its wheels. 
 
 “It’s going to take time to know the details of everything that occurred,” Gov. Mike Parson (R) said at a news briefing Friday, noting that the sprawling investigation had just begun. “Until that investigation is completed, I don’t think it’s my place or anyone’s place to speculate all the things that could have happened or why they happened.” 
 
 The duck boat that sank Thursday was owned by Ride the Ducks Branson, a tourism company that takes people on tours of the Ozarks by land and water using the amphibious vehicles. Ride the Ducks is a national duck tour operator with locations across the United States, and Ripley’s purchase of the Branson company last year added to its collection of more than 100 entertainment venues. Those include the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! franchise and the Guinness World Records Attractions, as well as mazes, haunted houses, traveling shows and other attractions across the United States and 10 other countries worldwide. 
 
 Pattison told The Post on Friday that the company bought Ride the Ducks Branson — to date, Ripley’s only duck boat outfit — in part because Ripley already had a Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odditorium in Branson. 
 
 A press release announcing the purchase described the tour as a 70-minute, guided amphibious tour that takes passengers through the Ozarks. At the time of the announcement, the company operated 22 duck vehicles from March to November. The announcement has since been removed from Ripley’s website. 
 
 Duck boats were originally developed as amphibious military vehicles used in beach landings. The duck boat tours in Branson include a trip up a nearby mountain to look at decades-old military equipment. 
 
 While some tourism duck boats were converted from the Army’s World War II-era “DUKW” boats, those used by Ride the Ducks Branson were replicas, the company said, updated with modern safety equipment. 
 
 Smagala said the boat tragedy was the first accident involving the duck boats in Branson. The company has been operating in the city for 40 years and is “a staple of Branson,” Smagala said. 
 
 Federal investigators also headed to the scene to join state and local officials, with the National Transportation Safety Board dispatching a “Go Team” to the lake to help probe the latest disaster involving duck boats, which have been involved in several fatal accidents in water and on land. Thirteen people died in 1999 when a duck boat took on water and sank while touring Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Ark. The NTSB found that when the boat was converted for tourism, it was not given enough built-in buoyancy to stay afloat if flooded. Just seven minutes after that boat entered the lake, it sank in 60 feet of water. 
 
 In 2015, a Ride the Ducks boat crashed into a charter bus on the Aurora Bridge in Seattle; five college students were killed and dozens of other people injured. Ride the Ducks International agreed the following year to pay $1 million for violating federal safety regulations, according to the Seattle Times. 
 
 
 
 Flowers and a note rest on a car believed to belong to a victim of the duck boat accident in Branson, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) 
 
 Two passengers on a duck boat were killed in 2010 near Philadelphia when a barge collided with the smaller vessel. The NTSB determined that the accident — which caused the duck boat to sink — occurred because the person guiding the barge was focused on his cellphone, although federal investigators also criticized the duck boat’s operator, Ride the Ducks, for actions they said contributed to the accident. 
 
 Some of the deadly accidents show dangers that come with some versions of the hybrid vessels. Often the boats are covered by thick canopies that shield riders from the sun and rain, but can create an obstacle to safety in emergencies, trapping passengers inside as the vessels sink. 
 
 Four of the passengers who died on the Miss Majestic in 1999 in Arkansas were pinned against the underside of the canopy. 
 
 “Contributing to the high loss of life was a continuous canopy roof that entrapped passengers within the sinking vehicle,” an NTSB report on the incident said. 
 
 The Coast Guard issued nationwide standards for inspections of the vehicles in December 2000, which still cover the industry. The NTSB recommended in 2002 that built-in flotation devices or other means be added to the retrofitted military boats to make sure the vessels “remain afloat and upright.” 
 
 The duck boats in Branson are popular with tourists and locals alike, said Best, the mayor. She said she could not recall previous problems with the two companies that have operated the boats in the 16 years she has lived in Branson. 
 
 “The duck boats are such a great asset to our community,” she said. “As a local, I’ve ridden in them I can’t tell you how many times.” 
 
 1 of 26 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × The scene after a duck boat sinks, killing 17 during a storm near Branson, Mo. View Photos The boat was touring Table Rock Lake when a thunderstorm swept in. Authorities said 31 people were on board. Caption The boat was touring Table Rock Lake when a thunderstorm swept in. Authorities said 31 people were on board. Trent Behr Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 Many tourists riding similar boats in the District on Friday were undeterred by news of the fatal event in Missouri, viewing it as an isolated occurrence. 
 
 As a fleet of boats operated by DC Ducks filed into Union Station on Friday afternoon, the Valdonedo family disembarked with wide smiles. The vacationers from Panama planned to stay in the nation’s capital for a week, and they said they had no intention of changing their plans to ride the duck boat. 
 
 “One random accident doesn’t mean they’re a bad company,” said Gabby Valdonedo, 25. “It’s a good way to see the city.” 
 
 Her sister, Monique Valdonedo, 19, added that duck boats are “way more fun than going down the Metro.” 
 
 But other tourists expressed some concern about the amphibious tours. Tiffany Li, 19, was visiting Washington with a friend on Friday and considered taking a DC Duck tour to pass time before their train back to New York. 
 
 “Clearly it’s a safety issue,” said Kume. “The boats don’t seem that stable, but tourists don’t know any better. They just pay to have fun.” 
 
 Li compared the danger to riding a roller coaster at an amusement park. “You don’t want to question things when you’re having a good time, so you just don’t think about it,” she said. 
 
 Ultimately, they decided against taking the tour, though Li said the decision was based more on money than safety. 
 
 Branson, near the Arkansas border, is a destination for country and live-music fans, with many acts covering Elvis, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton standards. Its main boulevard includes Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede Dinner Attraction, and Silver Dollar City, an 1800s-themed amusement park. Best, who is in her second term in office, said the city has about 10,000 residents and welcomes more than 8 million visitors yearly; July is one of its busiest months. 
 
 Best and her staff prepared Branson City Hall as a refuge for those waiting for news of their loved ones, and the city brought in certified grief counselors. Best said she saw one of the grief counselors take wet socks from a young man and dry them with the bathroom hand drier. “That was such a small thing, but for that young man, having dry socks was such an improvement from being cold and wet,” she said. “Little things like that meant a lot to the families.” 
 
 Seven passengers were injured, and two of those were in serious condition. 
 
 Williams, the driver of the boat, lived in Branson with his wife of 30 years. He was described as having loved his role promoting Branson. 
 
 “Every time you saw him he was smiling,” Best said. “He was a great guy. He loved Branson.” 
 
 Victor Richardson, a grandson of Williams’s, said in a telephone interview that “he was the calmest spirit you could ever meet.” 
 
 Police were called about the duck boat sinking shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday, officials said. While dive teams headed to the scene, people already there began to help, Rader said. Among those helping were one of his deputies, who was off-duty and providing security on the Branson Belle, a showboat used for lake tours. 
 
 The weather had been nice until shortly before the disaster, Allison Lester, who saw what happened from a nearby boat, said in a television interview. 
 
 “The wind really picked up bad, and debris was flying everywhere, and just the waves were really rough,” Lester told “Good Morning America” on Friday. “It was just suddenly and out of nowhere.” 
 
 In video captured by onlookers from the lake, two duck boats can be seen plunging up and down in choppy waves and high spray. One boat lags behind the other, nose-diving into the water. 
 
 “Oh my gosh, oh no,” a woman is heard saying in the background of the video. “Somebody needs to help them.” 
 
 Crazy storm... 17 fatalities on Table Rock Lake. Lakesideresort.com #tablerock #lovetablerock #tablerocklake #branson Posted by Lakeside Resort & Restaurant on Table Rock Lake on Thursday, July 19, 2018 
 
 Berman, Chiu and Wax reported from Washington. Abigail Hauslohner, Michael Laris, Luz Lazo, Deanna Paul, Julie Tate, Jason Samenow, Samantha Schmidt and Rachel Siegel in Washington contributed to this report. Ristau is a freelance journalist based in Tulsa.
– The duck boat sinking that killed 17 on a Missouri lake is now the subject of a federal criminal investigation after the Coast Guard found probable cause for negligence. The US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri is seeking to delay civil lawsuits over the July 19 incident until the end of its "wide-ranging" investigation to prevent revealing evidence too early, though two boat captains already know themselves to be targets. Per the Springfield News-Leader, the Coast Guard found probable cause for "misconduct, negligence, or inattention to the duties of the captain" by Kenneth McKee of Ride the Ducks Branson's sunken Stretch Duck 07, and also probable cause that Barry King acted in a "grossly negligent manner" while operating Stretch Duck 54, which made it to safety. The Branson area had been under a severe thunderstorm warning for 20 minutes before Stretch Duck 07 entered Table Rock Lake, where 73mph winds whipped up waves more than three feet high. Per the Wichita Eagle, the boat wasn't to be operated in winds exceeding 35mph or waves exceeding two feet. Civil cases also accuse Ride the Ducks Branson, owned by Ripley Entertainment, of putting passengers at risk through use of boat canopies, citing a National Transportation Safety Board recommendation to remove them following a 1999 tragedy. The NTSB is also investigating this case, along with the state, per CNN. "We continue to fully cooperate," Ripley says in a statement, adding "we are providing all documentation and materials requested in the case."