By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources officials had the “sole and exclusive supervision and control” over the game warden recruits while they were participating in a water training exercise in the Barren County Family YMCA pool, according to the court documents filed by attorney Thomas Kerrick on Nov. 24.
The refutation was filed in Barren County Circuit Court in response to the lawsuit filed earlier this month by Deborah Chase. She is the mother of William “Tex” Bailey, who died while participating in water training on Nov. 1, 2024 at the local YMCA. The lawsuit claims gross and corporate negligence on the part of the Barren County Family YMCA, the Barren County Family YMCA Foundation and the YMCA of the USA which lead to Bailey’s death.
Kerrick denies all the claims in Chase’s initial complaint with the majority of the denials stemming from the claim that Kentucky Fish and Wildlife rented the YMCA pool area and was responsible for supervision of the trainees.
On Nov. 6, Colton Givens, another attorney with Kerrick Bachert PSC law firm in Bowling Green, which is representing the YMCA, wrote in an email to Glasgow News 1 that while he was “not aware of a formal written agreement,” he understood that Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources “had rented the facility for similar training exercises on a number of prior occasions.”
“On those occasions, and on November 1, 2024, [Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources] supplied its own safety equipment,” Givens wrote in the email. “I also understand that some or all [Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources] training officers were certified in first aid, CPR, and/or lifeguarding.”
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife declined to comment on the existence of a rental agreement in an email to Glasgow News 1.
The response to the lawsuit requests that Chase’s complaint be dismissed with prejudice, which means the case would be over and cannot be refiled. It also stated the Barren County Family YMCA Foundation should be dismissed from the case as it “neither owned nor controlled the subject premises, and did not employ any employees…involved in the subject incident.”
An order dismissing the complaint against the YMCA of the USA was filed in the court case on Nov. 24. Also, filed on Nov. 24 is a notice setting a court appearance for Nov. 26 at 9 a.m.
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