Family of paddleboarding girl killed in Mission Bay crash sues federal government

The family of a 12-year-old girl fatally struck by a personal watercraft in Mission Bay filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit this week that faults the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for allegedly failing to ensure conditions were safe for swimmers, paddleboarders and others.

Savannah Peterson suffered fatal injuries after she was struck by a Yamaha WaveRunner traveling at high speeds on July 29, 2023, while she was paddleboarding in De Anza Cove.

The lawsuit filed Monday in San Diego federal court says that the two federal agencies are responsible for placing and maintaining navigational aids in the bay around De Anza Cove and Fiesta Island. The suit alleges that the areas where motorized watercraft operate should have been clearly separated from areas for swimmers and others by buoys, signage or other demarcations. The lawsuit also claims that additional safety patrols and safety-related signage could have prevented the fatality.

“The defendants failed to manage Mission Bay in a way that ensured the safety of patrons and/or warn them of the dangerous conditions therein,” the complaint states.

Representatives for the Coast Guard and Army did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

A wrongful death lawsuit filed in state court by Peterson’s family remains ongoing. Defendants in that suit include the city and county of San Diego, the San Diego Unified Port District, and online marketplace OfferUp, which was used to rent out the WaveRunner involved in the fatal incident.

Also named as a defendant in the state lawsuit is the watercraft’s operator, Arsanyous Refat Ghaly, who was criminally charged by prosecutors. Ghaly pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and was sentenced in November to 230 days in jail, plus probation.

At a preliminary hearing held in Ghaly’s criminal case, a police officer testified that data pulled from the watercraft indicated it was traveling between 47 and 53 mph at the time of the collision. Prosecutors contended the crash occurred in an area where watercraft operators are required to stay below 5 mph.