New law protects kids learning about boating after 12-year-old's tragic death
CENTERPORT, Long Island (WABC) -- A new safety measure is designed to protect young people as they learn about boating.
Ryan Weiss was just 12 years old when he was struck and killed by a boat's propeller last year in Centerport.
Ryan's family stood proudly next to Ryan's rock at the Centerport Yacht Club along with family, friends and local officials to remember and build on Ryan's legacy - now a part of 'Ryan's Law.'
"Though this can't bring Ryan back to us today, we hope we have the opportunity to protect someone else, someone else's child," said Ryan's mother, Kellie Weiss.
It was Kellie, turning her pain into a mission to ensure no mother loses a child in a boating accident as she lost her son when he was fatally hit with a propeller during a boating instruction last year.
"Ryan's Law will require if you're instructing children on the water and if you have a motorboat, we ask you to put propeller guards on the back," said Legislator Dr. William Spencer.
The Suffolk County executive signed the bill into law on Saturday - one of the first of its kind in the nation. And while the law is for those teaching boating lessons, the Weiss family has a message for anyone out on the water.
"They think about installing a prop guard to protect their kids, because I promise, no one wants to get the phone call we got a year ago," Kellie said.
It was a call that changed the young family's life and ended a boy's passion forever.
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