Annemarie Flanigan appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday with more details coming to light on a tragic day at Harris Lake in Chatham County.
Flanigan and her boyfriend Quentin Kight are charged after a boat collided with a group of swimmers, killing a girl and seriously injuring a woman.
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On Wednesday, the prosecution argued in Chatham County court that Flanigan made misleading statements to police and told Kight that she planned to leave for Wisconsin.
Flanigan, the boat’s owner, was on board during the crash. Kight was behind the wheel and charged with causing serious injury by impaired boating and operating a boat in a reckless manner. Thirty-nine empty seltzer cans were recovered in the boat by authorities.
Flanigan's charges include felony death by impaired boating, serious injury via impaired boating and aiding and abetting boating while impaired.
One of the law enforcement officers noticed Kite had red and glassy eyes, an arrest warrant said.
“His speech was heard to understand,” the officer stated in the warrant. “[There was a] strange odor of alcohol.”
According to the warrant, Kite told the officer he had consumed two seltzer alcoholic beverages.
“I noticed there were lots of empty alcohol cans inside the boat,” the officer said in the warrant.
Chatham County District Attorney Jeff Nieman said Flanigan was not intoxicated to the point where she could not have reasonably known Kight's intoxication level. Flanigan blew a .00 during a breathalyzer test. Kight's blood alcohol content that day is not yet known with Nieman adding that testing for impairing substances can take time in some instances.
At least 10 people were on board the boat at time of the crash, including two children. In addition to being impaired, Kight was not looking forward in the direction of the boat's path at the time of the crash, according to warrants.
Brooklyn Carroll was in an unsuspecting group of swimmers in the path of the boat. The 10-year-old and rising fifth grader died from injuries sustained in the collision. Jennifer Stehle, a social worker at the school and mother of one of Carroll’s friends, was seriously injured.
Nieman pointed out that when Flanigan was questioned by police she initially admitted she was on the boat.
"Then, she later wrote a misleading statement saying she was called to the scene after the accident and didn’t witness," said Nieman of Flanigan, who has no serious criminal offenses on her record.
Nieman also said that Flanigan should have been aware of how intoxicated Kight was.
"I would contend the consumption was happening right in front of her," Nieman said.
Flanigan is a former combat nurse and told police she helped the victims in the aftermath of the crash. Attorney Joshua Xerri said that she rushed to the injured to give aid. Xerri said Flanigan was central to the recovery efforts in the case.
Nonetheless, a young girl's life is over at the hands of a preventable tragedy.
"My daughter is 9," Nieman said. "She's very close in age to Brooklyn. And, I don't think you have to have a child to realize how tragic this is."
Kight has a 9-year-old daughter himself.
Nieman said the blood alcohol level reading will become available within about a week after speaking with a toxicologist.
Flanigan has a secured bond of $500,000, an amount Nieman argued to preserve. Xerri asked that the bond be made unsecured. Judge Sherri Murrell declined that request.
According to her obituary, a visitation for Carroll will be held on Thursday. Her funeral is scheduled for Friday.
Her family sent WRAL News photos of Carroll and her dad on a hiking trip in West Virginia last week. Another video showed her dancing and laughing with dad.
"It hits our family close," Nieman said. "Like it would anybody. But importantly, we have a job to do here. And despite the fact that this tragedy would make anyone sad, we plan to prosecute this case professionally and appropriately."
Warrants reveal Kight smelled of alcohol
A warrant filed by an investigator revealed Kight had red and glassy eyes and was hard to understand when talking to a law enforcement officer. He was eating a sandwich when first contacted, which the investigator believed was a ploy to potentially cover the smell of alcohol on his breath.
Kight admitted that nobody was looking ahead at the time of the crash because someone was wakeboarding behind the boat. The same investigator found 39 empty seltzer cans and two unopened seltzer cans.