Mom: Daughter Killed In Boat Crash Was 'Cheated Out Of Life'

DEER PARK, NY — Next week, on Feb. 21, Deer Park mom Gina Lieneck should have been celebrating her daughter Brianna's 24th birthday, a day that should have been filled with laughter and joy, photographs and plans.

But instead, a heartbroken Lieneck is left with only memories: Her world was shattered in 2005 when her daughter Brianna was killed in a horrific boat crash when she was only 11 years old.

And now Lieneck wants to create change so no other family ever has to bear such unthinkable loss.

Lieneck created a petition at change.org for "Brianna's Law," which she plans to deliver to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, advocating for stricter boating laws. So far, she has garnered 3,169 signatures toward a goal of 5,000.

And she has been tireless in her mission, reaching out to lawmakers with a mother's anguish, trying to open their eyes to a situation so that another child's life is not stolen too soon.

Lieneck said she's seen success, but that there is more work to be done: "I am pleased that it reached both the Senate and Assembly for a bill number, but there's a long way to go until I will be satisfied — when the Governor signs it into law. I have worked hard and encountered much resistance, which only makes my resolve unstoppable."

And fighting for her girl has brought the horror back, just a heartbeat away, she said.

"These past couple of weeks have been a little tough. Unfortunately on my journey to change the laws, I'm forced to rehash that horrific night. I had these horrifying memories tucked away in the hopes of never having to revisit them again."

"I had these horrifying memories tucked away in the hopes of never having to revisit them again"

And her daughter's birthday brings back the pain. "I become very sad around her birthday. Each year I wonder what she could of been. Would she have a great job? Would she have a boyfriend? I just feel she was so cheated out of life. We missed out on her watching her grow into a beautiful young woman. Each year that passes, I think about all she missed out on. My emotions run wild."

But despite the agony of life without her girl, Lieneck keeps up the fight in her daughter's memory. If she could speak to her daughter again, she said, "I would tell my daughter that her death was not in vain, that good will come out of our tragic accident. I made a promise to Brianna I would never give up this fight to make change happen and save lives."

Lieneck's next step is to go to Albany and to convince "all concerned why and how we need to make our waterways safer. We have a great deal of support and although I expect some resistance, I am confident that logic will prevail and we can convince any opposition we encounter to side with us and all boaters to make our waterways safer."

The petition advocates for stronger boating laws.

"Brianna's Law is a law that I'm trying to get passed in memory of my 11-year-old daughter, Brianna Lieneck, who was killed in a boating accident August 17, 2005," Lieneck wrote on the petition. "The majority of boat owners and operators are middle-aged adults and the current education laws do not pertain to them."

Describing the day her world changed forever, Lieneck said she and her husband and kids had gone to her brother's house on Fire Island for a day of tubing. At about 8:20 p.m. that night, they were heading back to the Bay Shore Marina, where they docked their boat.

"A boat just came out of nowhere"

"A boat just came out of nowhere," she said. "We had stopped our boat for a second, and had just started to go again. We were going about 5 to 10 miles per hour. This boat flew from behind us at full throttle and went up and over the top of our boat."

Their boat, Lieneck said had a heavy canopy that collapsed on Brianna.

"My husband and I didn't really know what was going on. We both took very bad hits to the head, and my arm was severed to the bone because of the propeller," she said.

Lieneck said their other daughter, 13-year-old Danyelle, was a "hero to all of us. I firmly believe it was the adrenaline — she lifted that canopy off my daughter."

But it was too late; Brianna died.

Seeing her mother losing a lot of blood, Danyelle got a towel and wrapped Lieneck's arm.

"It's a horror, what she had to witness that night," Lieneck said.

Lieneck said her husband Frank broke every bone in his face and suffered skull fractures and brain damage that still impacts his life today.

"We couldn't bury my daughter for a month because we were critically injured," Lieneck said. "My husband's brain was so damaged, my family had to keep telling him that Brianna was gone. We had to remind him, every day."

Her own memories of that horrific day haunt Lieneck. "The only thing I truly remember when we were finally brought to the hospital was that I kept saying, 'Where is Brianna?' A doctor said, 'You keep talking about Brianna. She's dead.' At that point they were losing me. I went into shock."

At home, Lieneck and her husband endured physical pain but even greater mental anguish.

"It was the toughest thing in the world," said Lieneck, who still suffers from encephalomalacia — the softening of brain tissue due to trauma and a condition that can cause lifelong problems or even death.

But no physical injury can compare to the life-altering grief her family has suffered without their beautiful daughter.

"It just hit home the other day," Lieneck said. "One of Brianna's friends got engaged. That's when it hit me. She's missing out on so much in life. This was all such an avoidable accident. People have to be held accountable for their actions."

In addition to a need for boaters to be regulated, Lieneck said, boating while intoxicated is a critical concern.

"It's mayhem out there," she said.

Today, Lieneck said she often goes and sits by the Bay Shore Marina, watching the water. "It brings me closer to Brianna. I feel at peace there."

Still, she's "amazed at what goes on." Boaters without lights, speeding, drinking, not knowing basic rules of local waterways.

"Education is so important," she said. "You have to have some knowledge before you get a boat and take it out on the water."

Although Lieneck and her family said they believe the boaters who hit them may have been drinking, according to a New York Times article, a criminal charge was dismissed after a court-ordered test taken four hours after the crash showed no drugs or alcohol in the blood of the 33-year-old driver of the other boat.

"We will never know what actually happened that night. I don't focus on going backward. I have to move forward, to make it safer for other lives on the water," Lieneck said.

Remembering Brianna

Her daughter, Lieneck said, loved softball. Her nickname was Breezy, and after she died, Lieneck opened a business, Breezy's Field of Dreams, that helped her get through the darkest days.

"She was the most caring child you'd ever meet. If she saw somebody sitting by themselves, she would go befriend them," Lieneck said. "She loved people."

She added, "What keeps me going is that she lived each day to the fullest."

Today, Lieneck said she tries to help others going through similar pain — because she knows the bottomless depths of loss.

"For two years, I was a recluse. I wouldn't leave my house. I wouldn't laugh. I didn't want to be in the outside world," she said. "For a long time, I asked God to please take me. I wanted to die; I begged God. I was stuck between two worlds and I just wanted to be with Brianna."

Next steps

Armed with facts and research, Lieneck has been engaged in a battle for change.

Lieneck added that according to her research, 22 people died in boating accidents in New York in 2016, an increase from the previous year when 16 died, she said.

"According to new data from the U.S. Coast Guard, 2016 was the most lethal for New York boaters since 2014 when 27 died," she wrote.

"In 2013 there were 180 accidents, in 2014, 175 accidents, in 2015, 174 accidents, and in 2016, 188 accidents. In Suffolk County, four boaters died last year: three in open motor boats, one on a kayak and another on a paddle board, according to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. In Nassau County, two people died in accidents involving open motorboats," she wrote on her petition.

"New York ranked 31st out of 60 states, territories and regions in 2016 with 4.9 recreational boating fatalities per 100,000 registered boaters. New York moved up six spots from the year before, when it ranked 37th with a rate of 3.6 deaths per 100,000 registered boats."

According to Lieneck, the bill will demand stricter boating laws as well as make in-classroom boating education and certification mandatory for all operators of power driven vessels.

There will be no grace period for those classes, and the legislation calls for the elimination of online boating safety certification courses.

In addition, under the new legislation children ages 10 to 14 may operate a power driven vessel only under 10hp, unless they're under the supervision of an adult who is at least 18 years of age and has completed an in-person boating safety course.

All power-driven vessels used in teaching on-water training, powered by an outboard or stern drive, excluding inboard and jet-drive, where persons are subject to being picked up out of the water by the power-driven vessel, would be required to be equipped with an appropriate propeller guard. This includes vessels conducting man-overboard drills, water skiing and wake-boarding.

The legislation would also require, when there is reason to believe that there might be circumstances involving boating while intoxicated and boating under the influence, a mandate that a blood alcohol content test be given within a certain period of time — for example, within two hours of an incident where a fatality or injury is involved.

The legislation would allow for increased fines and imprisonment for convictions in New York waters and require mandatory liability insurance for power-driven vessels — similar to what's required for motor vehicles.

This week, Lieneck also urged every boater to take a boating course. A list of classes can be found here.

And, she asked for signatures on her petition, "in support of the changes we are seeking. Of course, for those that wish to take it a step further, please write your local politician to support 'Brianna's Law' in the Assembly and Senate.

"I will miss her and cry for the rest of my life," Lieneck said of Brianna. "But maybe God left me here for a purpose. And that was to help save others' lives."

Photos courtesy Lieneck family.