Mariana Ochoa talks about her 7-year-old son Victor Lobato Ochoa, who drowned in the Chicago River in 2020. The family has filed a lawsuit in the boy's death. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
The family of a 7-year-old boy from Little Village who drowned in the Chicago River last year filed a lawsuit Thursday against the companies that owned a tugboat and barge, alleging they caused dangerous wakes that overturned the boat he was in.
The family and its attorneys held a news conference Thursday at the law offices of Wise Morrissey to announce the filing of the wrongful death lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court. The lawsuit alleges that the barge was being towed at an excessive speed, causing large wakes, in a “No Wake” zone of the river.
“The loss of a child is heartbreaking enough,” attorney Michael Gallagher said. “However, losing a child before your very eyes, as a result of corporate negligence, is a tragedy that none of us will ever have to endure.”
The lawsuit cites the defendants as Material Service Corp. of Chicago, also known as Hanson Material Service Corp., its parent companies and the then-captain of the inland river towboat Kiowa. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The boy, Victor Lobato Ochoa, died July 23. That day, Victor and his siblings — ages 9, 5 and 2 at the time — were on a 16- to 17-foot Bayliner Capri motorboat with their parents, Mariana Ochoa and Jesus Lobato Hernandez, their adult friend and the boat operator, the complaints stated. All of them except the adult friend were wearing life jackets.
A 2019 photo of Victor Lobato Ochoa, who was 7 when he drowned in the Chicago River last summer. (Family photo/Chicago Tribune)
“There’s no day that I don’t wake up and I hope to see him there. It’s like I live every day not seeing him,” Victor’s mother Mariana Ochoa said. “It’s a pain. I go visit him every day at the cemetery.”
About 5:30 p.m., the motorboat was northbound on the South Branch of the river near Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chinatown, the complaint stated. As they were traveling, the family and boat operator saw the Kiowa towing a barge quickly, causing a series of large wakes that were several feet high and reverberated off the walls of the river.
When the first wave hit the boat, Ochoa said the family was screaming for help.
The complaint cites a National Transportation Safety Board report that was issued in March 2017 that stated the Chicago River was unique because of its “limited area in which vessels can maneuver,” which increased the risk of crashes.
The wakes went over the open bow of the motorboat the family was on, causing it to capsize, the complaint said. Everyone onboard was thrown into the water. Victor was trapped underneath.
Emergency responders arrived within minutes to rescue the family, Gallagher said. But Victor was not immediately found. About 20 to 25 minutes later, divers found him under the boat. He was taken by helicopter to Mercy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Victor was a first grader at McCormick Elementary School, and Ochoa said his teacher gave her some of his last assignments. He wrote that he wanted to be a firefighter and one of his summer plans was to go swimming. Ochoa said he was a nice kid who would tap people on the shoulder and tell them that everything was going to be OK if they were sad.
“For us, he’s not dead. He’s still alive,” Ochoa said. “He’s not physically here. But he’s still here among us. He’s still here with us.”
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry
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