[Zack] All I remember is making a large u-turn, and
then waking up in the hospital 10 days later.
[Justin] And the whole time we're screaming, screaming
as loud as we can, hoping that somebody'll hear us.
Nobody can hear us, no one's around.
[Jessica] I knew it was real whenever I heard the ambulance
driving across the freeway over the lake.
(water splashing)
[Jessica] It was supposed to be Bobby and two of his
friends, Cedric and John.
And Cedric followed us in his car to the lake.
[John] Me, Bobby and Cedric, we're saying that we'll
go for a little swim a little farther out.
[Jessica] Cedric was like, we should swim out to those
buoys out there.
And I told Bobby, “No.”
He kept screaming my middle name.
He kept screaming, “Nicole!”
cause I wouldn't turn around, I didn't want to listen to him.
Cause I already told him, no, he couldn't go out there.
And he was just like, “Nicole!”
And I turned around, and I was like “What?”
And he was like, “I love you.”
And I was like, “I love you, too.
Now, get out of the water.”
I sat in the sand and I turned around and him and Cedric and John were already way out
there swimming to the buoys.
[John] Bobby was about five feet away from me.
When I turned around to get a little breath, to see if everybody was alright...
[Jessica] And he actually just hit the buoy and started
swimming back.
He didn't stop and take a breath.
[John] Swam a little more, about two, three seconds
later I turned back around, when I could touch my feet in the sand in the water.
And turned around and Bobby was nowhere to be found.
[Jessica] I looked back up and John and Cedric are just
standing out on the sand, facing the water.
And I'm standing there and I'm just waiting, 'cause I see two people, I don't see three.
And then I was screaming, I was like “Where's Bobby?”
They were like, “I don't know.
He hasn't came up yet.”
[Zack] There was some problems going on, like in
the family and really, I just wanted to stay out of it.
My mom's friend offered me his jet ski for the afternoon.
And, since I was unhappy, I went out there.
I felt, I felt in control at first.
I felt like I could do anything.
And then I started to lose control of it.
Uh, there was a couple, on the other side of the lake that I remember, they were going
40.
The tip of their jet ski hit me in the torso.
The whole thing took place a couple feet up in the air, above the surface of the water.
[Justin] We left my grandmother's house, it was me,
Brandon and Taylor.
Loaded up my boat, and we headed out to fish, to check some trotlines.
We checked the fish, we only had two small fish on the trotline so, we decided, y'know,
with the storm blowing in and bad as it was starting to get, cause it was getting worse
and worse by the minute, that we would just go ahead and leave the fish there.
I've been fishing this lake since I was a little boy.
And so, I just was that person that didn't think I needed a life jacket or kill switch
or any of that type of stuff, y'know?
I felt the boat trying to jerk to my left.
And whenever I looked back I saw Taylor, you know, with fright in his eyes, he'd realized
something was wrong.
And there was just that split second, I mean it was just as soon as I looked at him, we
were in the water.
I mean he flipped us out, and as soon as we flipped out into the water, it took our breath
away, it was so cold.
I've swam that lake, I can't tell you how many times, pools.
I mean, it was crazy how fast the water took our energy and all of our strength away.
The boat kept on going.
And it started going towards the 66 bridge, so I knew that it was gone; y'know, there
was no chance of getting it back.
[Gabby] It was a normal day.
Like, we were planning on going fishing and...
[Katy] I caught one; I think...
I don't remember what it was.
And then Gabby caught a skipjack.
And then Kali caught the most fish, lucky her, she got a dogfish.
[Gabby] The boat had taken a sudden turn.
And we weren't expecting it.
And I had been sitting right next to Kali.
And I just, everything just froze, and everything was in slow motion.
[Katy] I just, like...
I just felt the boat like do something.
I wasn't really sure.
I just slid around on the floor everywhere.
[Gabby] I just saw her just fly off the edge and,
um...
We heard something hit the motor.
[Katy] And so... um... and then we were...
[Zack] We were all wearing life jackets.
Because if not I definitely, without a doubt, would have drowned.
They pulled me onto the boat and took me to shore.
After that, uh... the male who was driving the other jet ski started performing CPR.
[Justin] Brandon started kind of getting away from
us.
And, uh...
I just remember Taylor and me looking at each other and knowing we'd really messed up.
[John] I was at shore, catching my breath, so I can
go back out and look for Bobby.
Couldn't find him.
After 20 minutes, stayed out the water.
And police officer showed up...
[Gabby] We saw her float to the top.
[Katy] I really thought when she came up she maybe
had just, like knocked the breath out of her or something, like she was just passed out.
And then, and then we saw her wounds, and it looked really bad from there.
And that's when we started panicking.
And we pulled her up over the side of the boat, and we laid her down.
And then my dad was telling us to call 911.
And to put pressure on her neck.
She had two, like, gashes.
I didn't know she had two so I only put my hand on the one.
And Gabby was holding her hand.
[Zack] Their jet ski crushed my knee into eight pieces.
Lacerated my spleen, liver, and pancreas.
My aorta had, like, torn.
[Justin] I just remember it was like fighting a thousand
people at one time, I just knew there was no chance in hell I was gonna make it.
Me and Taylor were right next to each other...
we couldn't, we couldn't find him.
He was already gone.
He already left.
[Gabby] And me and Katy just held Kali in our arms.
Just told her we were there for her.
That everything would be okay.
[Katy] And then we started telling her that we loved
her and like what a great person she was; cause she was like, she was as close to perfect
as perfect could be, you know?
[Jessica] Finally, I saw the boat coming back to the
shore.
And then I saw Bobby's body, and he was laying on the stretcher and they laid him in the
sand.
[Zack] I would have been unconscious like for at
least a day or two.
But, with all the surgery, and how severe the injuries were they kept me under for 10
to 12 days.
[Justin] I swam towards him, as much as I could, y'know,
I could barely even move myself.
I was kicking my feet for him.
I couldn't find him.
And then it was, after that, it was, you know, just fight for yourself, you know?
It was no longer, “Where's Brandon?”
It's like, oh man, what am I gonna do to save myself?
[Gabby] Right after they took her, the policeman took
me and Katy to the hospital.
So we waited there.
And we just prayed, and prayed, and prayed.
Until we got the news that our best friend had passed away.
Um... and...
[Katy] They take you to a special room; they sit
you down and they tell you, they tell you what they did, how hard they tried, that she,
she just wouldn't, she just wouldn't come back.
And, that's what happened.
[Justin] I just remember him saying that he saw a boat.
And then whenever I heard him say that, I thought he was hallucinating; cause I know
that, you know, people are dying and stuff's going on, y'know, you think crazy things.
And this boat with two gentlemen came over to me, and they threw me a rope.
He pulled us both onto the boat, and we sat there for second.
And then we said Brandon's name.
And they said, “There's somebody else?”
And we said, “Yes, sir.”
[John] And I started, I started breaking down, started
crying.
What hurt me the most that I had to call his mom, whenever talking to a best friend's parent,
telling them that their son is gone.
[Jessica] I went to him for everything.
So, it was really hard for him not to be there anymore.
[Justin] We looked for him for 29 days.
We finally found him... thanks to a lot of help.
It was the worst day of my life by far.
And I'll never forget it.
I see the look in his eyes sometimes when I'm sleeping.
[Jessica] Cause you never think it's going to happen
to you or anybody that you care for.
(music)
[Zack] Never go beyond your limits because you are
on the water.
[Gabby] Wear a life jacket.
[Justin] Please, for you and your family's sake, use
a kill switch.
[Zack] I'm alive because I was wearing a life jacket.
[Katy] Know what to do in an emergency.
[John] Keep safe in the water
[Jessica] Don't give in to peer pressure.
[Justin] Use a life jacket.
[Zack] Take a boater safety course.
It can save your life.
(music)
(water splashing)