Man Pleads Guilty to Second-Degree Murder in Fatal North Carolina Drunk Boating Crash

“I NEVER MEANT FOR ANYONE TO GET HURT ON THE WATER”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, PROSECUTORS SAY QUINTEN KIGHT OPERATED A BOAT WHILE DRUNK ON HARRIS LAKE, STRIKING TWO SWIMMERS, KILLING A 10-YEAR-OLD GIRL AND SEVERING A WOMAN’S LEG… AND HE HAS NOW BEEN SENTENCED TO OVER A DECADE IN PRISON AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO SECOND-DEGREE MURDER.

A man who allegedly killed a 10-year-old child and caused a woman to lose her leg during an impaired boating incident on a North Carolina lake has pleaded guilty.

On the morning of Monday, August 24, 42-year-old Quinten Kight entered his guilty plea in court.

Kight pleaded guilty to charges including second-degree murder and felony serious injury by impaired boating.

The plea was announced in a Facebook post shared by Chatham County District Attorney Jeff Nieman.

Following the plea, a judge sentenced Kight to between 150 and 185 months in prison.

The sentence equates to 12.5 to more than 15 years of incarceration.

According to authorities, the criminal charges stem from an incident that occurred on August 2, 2025.

The collision resulted in the death of 10-year-old Brooklyn Carroll.

The incident also caused injuries that resulted in Jennifer Stehle losing her leg, authorities said.

Kight was accused of driving a boat while drunk on Harris Lake that day.

Nieman detailed the circumstances of the incident at Kight’s plea hearing, according to WRAL.

Carroll and Stehle, who was a family friend, had been swimming in the lake.

Then Kight struck both swimmers with the vessel.

Kight had been driving 11 passengers aboard the boat during the incident, WRAL reported.

Two of the passengers aboard the vessel were wakeboarding at the time.

Several empty cans of alcohol were reportedly found aboard the boat.

Brooklyn had been a student at West Lake Elementary School, The News & Observer reported.

She was spending time with the Stehle family on the day of the fatal crash.

Stehle had worked as a social worker at Brooklyn’s elementary school.

According to the newspaper, Stehle stated that Brooklyn “was best friends” with her daughter.

Stehle required multiple surgical operations following the collision.

She also required therapy and rehabilitation as a result of her injuries, according to a GoFundMe page created to support her.

In court, Brooklyn’s father, Matt Carroll, addressed the loss of his daughter.

WNCN reported that he called his daughter his “little buddy” and “best friend.”

“Brooklyn is not simply the person who died because of what happened that day,” Carroll said.

“She had dreams she hadn’t even had time to dream yet, and decades of life that should’ve belonged to her.”

Matt Carroll also claimed her death “was not an accident.”

He argued before the court that the collision was “completely preventable,” according to WNCN.

“I would give anything to trade places and go sit in a jail cell for a decade with a smile on my face if it meant Brooklyn could come back,” Matt added.

Chas Post, an attorney representing Kight, spoke in court regarding his client.

Post said in court that Kight seemed “genuinely sorry,” The News & Observer reported.

Kight was also reported to have apologized directly in the courtroom.

Yet Kight was not the only person arrested following the fatal incident.

Kight and his girlfriend, Annemarie Flanigan, were both ultimately arrested, according to The News & Observer.

Flanigan is the owner of the boat that Kight had been operating.

She has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder.

After Kight pleaded guilty, Brooklyn’s parents issued a joint statement published by WNCN.

“While nothing that happened in court today will bring Brooklyn back to us, the conviction and sentence send a clear message that drunk boating will not be tolerated in North Carolina.”

The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.