NEW YORK (WABC) — A woman whose husband was killed while the couple was riding a personal watercraft in Queens has filed a lawsuit accusing the marina where they rented the vessel of gross negligence.
Ian Gumbs, 56, was killed after he and his wife, Stacey Thomas, rented the motorized vessel from Swan Marina NYC in Howard Beach on Aug. 14.
Thomas, who was injured, witnessed her husband’s death and is speaking about the incident as she recovers.
“He went under, it sounded like it was chopping him up, but it was the propeller from the jet ski turning him around in a circle and then shot him out in the middle of the ocean,” Thomas said.
“I know it happened, but I don’t believe it, it happened so quick,” she said.
The couple took video shortly before renting the watercraft and headed out wearing life vests with an instructor, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges the instructor got close to Thomas and Gumbs and did “a donut, turning right and left and accelerating,” creating “turbulent and dangerous wakes.”
“Ian went to go make the left to try and get out of the water and it smacked the boat up,” Thomas said.
Both were thrown into the water, first Thomas and then Gumbs. Thomas said she watched as the vessel pulled her husband under.
“He was fighting, he was throwing his arm and leg up, he did that three or four times, they kept going and going,” she said.
Gumbs, who had deep ties to the rap group Wu-Tang Clan, died at the hospital.
According to the lawsuit, Thomas heard the instructor say after the incident, “I (expletive) knew it was (expletive) up. I shouldn’t have taken them out.”
“I kept saying ‘what did you know, did you know the accident was going to happen, did you know this boat had a hole in it,'” Thomas said.
The lawsuit alleges there was “a hole in the front” with “white foam visible around it.” Thomas said she saw the damage after the watercraft was lifted from the water.
Attorney Abe George said the lawsuit is intended to push for changes among personal watercraft rental operators.
“We want to be a message to people who rent jet skis to be more careful in how they treat their clients and customers and basic reform,” George said.
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