Family of Shaw airman who drowned in Lake Wateree hires attorney for independent investigation

The family of Carlen Hailey, a senior airman stationed at Shaw Air Force Base, has hired a Columbia attorney to conduct an independent investigation into his death. 

Hailey, 23, a Los Angeles native, died June 18 after drowning while swimming in Lake Wateree.

According to earlier reports, Kershaw County Fire Service responded to the Sailing Club area of Lake Wateree for a report of a missing person. South Carolina Department of Natural Resources later reported divers recovered the body of a man. 

Officials said Hailey was on a pontoon boat with friends when he allegedly got off the pontoon boat to swim in 25 feet of water but experienced distress and did not resurface. 

Fairfield County Coroner's Office conducted an autopsy, and Hailey’s death was ruled an accidental drowning. 

Hailey’s family has hired attorney Tyler Bailey and his office to investigate the incident further. 

Bailey issued this statement on Monday, Sept. 14:

“Senior Airman Carlen Hailey served his country admirably and it is our honor to represent his family in their quest to determine how and why this tragic incident occurred,” he said. “We have opened an independent investigation into the circumstances of his death.  By all accounts, Carlen could not swim. That one fact should have changed everything about what happened on that boat. But it didn't.” 

“The Fairfield County Coroner ruled the manner of death as accidental. We are not here to fight that ruling. We are here to ask the question it does not answer. Accidental is not the same as unpreventable. Every accident has causes, and often people are responsible for those causes.” 

Bailey said there are many questions that the investigation intends to answer:

Who owned the vessel Carlen was in, and who authorized it to be on the lake that day? 

Who was operating the vessel, and were they trained, qualified and fit to do so?

What safety equipment was on board, and was any of it used when Carlen was struggling in the water? 

Who on that boat knew Carlen could not swim?   

How long was it between the moment someone realized he was in trouble and the moment someone called for help?

“This family has been asking versions of those questions since Carlen's tragic death.  They have requested records. They have requested photographs. They have asked for a simple timeline of what happened and when. They have not received any response,” Bailey said. “This is why I was retained.” 

“Let me be clear about what this is and what it is not. We are not accusing any individual of a crime.  We are doing careful, methodical work and we will speak publicly when we have facts and not before,” Bailey continued. “A family sent a healthy 23-year-old man to serve this country. They buried him this summer.  They are simply asking for the truth about how their son died. We will do everything in our power to help answer these crucial questions."