August 2 marks one year since the tragic death of a 10-year-old girl from Apex.
Brooklyn Carroll died after a boat hit her while she was swimming in Harris Lake.
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"It’s been hard. It’s been hard for everyone. I can’t even begin to describe how hard it is for the family," said Allison Mazzotta, a friend of the Carroll family and whose daughter was friends with Brooklyn.
“I think one of the hardest parts I’ve experienced as a parent is having to tell my daughter that her friend is no longer with us."
Brooklyn had just started her first week of fifth grade at West Lake Elementary School when she was hit by a boat while swimming in Harris Lake with her friend’s family. The boat's operator, Quinten Kight, and Annemarie Flanagan, the owner of the boat, face charges including second-degree murder. Kight is accused of being under the influence of alcohol.
In the months that followed the incident, Mazzotta and other community members joined the heartbroken Carroll family in establishing the Brooklyn Mae Carroll Foundation.
Over the past year, the foundation has held awareness and fundraising events in Brooklyn's honor and given scholarships to students.
The foundation's long-term goal is to put emergency safety kits at boat ramps across North Carolina. The safety kits would include items like tourniquets and personal protective equipment to help people on the water who find themselves in crisis while they wait for first responders to arrive.
"Everybody did everything they could. But was there something more that could have helped? That’s an answer we’ll never know; that’s an answer we hope to be able to keep other families from asking themselves," said Mazzotta.
The foundation has a prototype for the safety kits but requires funds to make them a reality at boat ramps across the state. They are hosting a golf tournament on Sept. 28 to begin the fundraising process, and the foundation is accepting online donations through their website.
Above all else, their message is simple:
"Boating needs to be done in a safe way, just like driving," said Mazzotta.
Kight and Flanigan remain in jail while they await trial.