Mother of physician killed in kayak crash with Buena Vista Ferry sues Marion County

The mother of a Salem physician who died last year after a ferry collided with his kayak is suing Marion County, alleging it failed to train the ferry operator to safely steer on the Willamette River. 

Melodie Jackson filed the lawsuit on Feb. 20 in Marion County Circuit Court on behalf of her son, Jacob Jackson, against the county and Alex Woolner, an acquaintance who provided him a “defective” kayak, according to the civil complaint. 

Jackson’s mother is seeking a jury trial and up to $22.5 million in damages.

READ IT: Civil complaint

The county employee operating the Buena Vista Ferry, who is not named in the complaint, told authorities that she didn’t see Jackson when she collided with his kayak on June 20, 2024, southwest of Salem on the river, between Monmouth and Corvallis. He submerged under the ferry and its propellers drowned him, according to attorney Tim Jones, who is representing Jackson’s mother in the lawsuit.

Salem Reporter is not naming the ferry operator because she hasn’t been charged with a crime and is not a defendant in the suit.

There was nothing blocking the ferry operator’s vision at the time, Jones said in an interview. Had she seen Jackson, she could have stopped the ferry, turned its propellers off or backed it up.

“This was an entirely preventable death,” Jones said.

The lawsuit’s account differs from that of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. The agency said at the time that Jackson’s kayak collided with the ferry, not the other way around.

Jones disagrees. He said the ferry’s video cameras captured the two kayaks floating down the river, and the operator cut Jackson off. 

The operator told authorities she was headed east across the river when she sat down and heard a thud on the side of the ferry, according to police reports Jones obtained. She stood up and didn’t see anything before hearing Woolner hollering at her and seeing Jackson’s broken oars in the water, Jones said.

“From our perspective, she wasn’t paying attention,” the attorney said.

Marion County spokesman Jon Heynen did not respond to written questions sent Wednesday, including what actions the county has taken to prevent future ferry crashes.

Efforts to reach Woolner for comment were unsuccessful. 

Marion County operates two ferries, the Buena Vista Ferry and the Wheatland Ferry, which operates north of Keizer.

Motorists and pedestrians use the ferries to cross the Willamette River.

Jackson’s death came nearly two years after another kayaker, Jason Oliver, was injured on the river in a collision with the Wheatland Ferry in May 2022.

Oliver alleged in a lawsuit last September that his kayak submerged under the ferry but, unlike Jackson, he surfaced alive on the other side.

Jones said the county recently settled the lawsuit with Oliver. Heynen, the county spokesman, and Oliver’s attorneys did not respond to written requests for the settlement agreement. Court records showed the case was dismissed on Dec. 31 as jointly requested by Oliver and the county.

The Jackson family filed their lawsuit, Jones said, in hopes that the county takes action to ensure the safety of kayakers, canoers, paddle boarders and others enjoying a day on the river. 

“It begins with training,” he said. “If you’re there every day, taking this ferry back and forth across the river, you’ve got to know there’s a county park a couple hundred yards up the river where people are going to be coming down at you all day, every day, and there’s been a history of near misses there.”

Tragedy on the river

Woolner, “a very experienced kayaker” who Jackson met just days before his death, invited him to the river on June 20, 2024, Jones said. They rode on 14-foot kayaks.

The Buena Vista Ferry is powered by two electric motors with propellers. It has a glassed-in booth, which provides its operator a full view of the river, and is equipped with video cameras, according to the lawsuit.

Jackson and Woolner entered the river from the ramp near Buena Vista Park and proceeded downstream.

“As the ferry was docked on the river’s west bank and was about to start crossing the river from west to east, the kayakers approached and were within full view of the ferry operator. The ferry had a single vehicle aboard, but nonetheless started across the river,” the suit alleges.

Jones said Jackson had the right of way on the fast-moving river and was unable to maneuver around the ferry operator, who cut him off and collided with his kayak.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post at the time that Jackson “experienced a malfunction with the steering mechanism” on his kayak and, while trying to fix the issue, floated into the path of the ferry and struck it.

The sheriff’s office said Jackson’s kayak overturned and he fell into the water, became trapped under the ferry and didn’t resurface.

The Linn County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team, which recovered Jackson, determined that his clothing had become entangled in the propeller, which caused him to drown. 

“During the investigation we learned Mr. Jackson was not wearing a life jacket at the time of the incident; however, he had one with him on the kayak at the time of the incident. This tragic incident is a good reminder to practice water safety and to wear life jackets when operating both motorized and non-motorized vessels,” the Polk County agency wrote.

The lawsuit alleges that the operator was negligent in launching the ferry while Jackson was paddling downstream and in failing to keep “a proper lookout,” proceed at a safe speed, allow enough room on the river for others and avoid the crash “in ample time and with due regard to the observance of good seamanship.”

The county also failed to “adequately train and supervise its operator on how to safely share the river with nonmotorized boat traffic,” according to the suit.

Jones said Woolner told authorities after the crash that the kayak he provided Jackson was “set up for a smaller person” and wasn’t adjusted before they went into the river. There was also an issue with the kayak’s rudder, which Woolner tried to fix while they were on the river, the attorney said. 

Jackson’s mother is seeking $7.5 million in economic damages and up to $15 million in non-economic damages.

A devoted humanitarian

Jackson was born in Palo Alto, California, but moved to Oregon as a child. 

After graduating from Western Oregon University, he pursued a career as an emergency medical technician, and then decided to go to medical school. 

After arriving in New Orleans for a medical rotation during school, he found hotels booked full with Hurricane Katrina refugees, according to an obituary.”As a prepared Eagle Scout, he bought a tent from Walmart and camped (in the rain) until housing was available,” the obituary said. He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, completing a mission in the Dominican Republic.

Jackson worked as a family physician at Kaiser Permanente, primarily at a Salem clinic, from 2009 and 2020. He worked as a traveling physician for some time before returning to work at Salem Hospital until his death at 50 years old.

He did so to take care of his aging parents, according to Jones.

Jackson was an expert swimmer and scuba diver, having dived in the Mediterranean Sea, the Caribbean Sea and the South Pacific, his obituary said.

“He is remembered especially for his cheery disposition and happy smile,” the obituary said. “His family and colleagues both recall his willingness to help out and go the extra mile.”

Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.

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