Regina Zilbermints

rzilbermin@dmreg.com

How a life jacket came off of a Clive man who was handcuffed when he went off a police boat and drowned will be a key part of the Missouri Highway Patrol's investigation into the incident, officials said.

Brandon Ellingson, a 20-year-old Valley High School graduate and Arizona State University student, went into the water at the Lake of the Ozarks Saturday evening while being transported for a boating while intoxicated arrest. He stood up in the police boat and officials are still trying to determine whether he fell or jumped in the water.

His body was recovered Sunday morning, 80 feet under the water in the same spot where he went in, officials said.

The incident remains under investigation and the officer who arrested Ellingson is on paid administrative leave, which is standard policy for major incidents, said Missouri State Patrol Sgt. Paul Reinsch.

Missouri State Highway Patrol policies require anyone arrested to be placed in handcuffs and anyone being transported by boat to have a life vest on.

Ellingson was handcuffed behind his back, officials said. Reinsch said the trooper placed a standard "Level 3" life jacket – the type that resembles a vest and buckles three times in the front – on Ellingson. It came off in the water.

"That is a big part of our investigation," Reinsch said. "To determine how it came off after it was placed on him."

The officer jumped into the water and made several attempts to save Ellingson but couldn't reach him, Reinsch said.

The boats used by the Highway Patrol don't have seatbelts and, unlike with a squad car, troopers can't simply lock the doors to keep those arrested inside.

That, combined with the fact that most boats only carry one officer who is tasked with driving the vessel and keeping an eye on the prisoner, creates a unique challenge for troopers on the water, Reinsch said.

"It's a difficult situation," he said. "You can't lock the doors, can't place them in a seatbelt. It's very difficult to even stand a boat when it's moving. So a totally different situation."

Still, Reinsch could not recall another similar incident for the water patrol.

This was the second drowning death this year at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Ellingson was a 2012 graduate from Valley High School in West Des Moines, where he was on the honor roll, and studied business at Arizona State University. He was planning on working with his father at Glacier Properties in Clive after graduation, said his grandmother, Gloria Ellingson.

He was a two-way starter on a Valley High School football team that won the state championship in 2011.

"You know what, he was perfect. He was handsome, he was very very smart," Gloria Ellingson said. "He could joke with you. He could be on any level. There wasn't anybody like him."

Gloria Ellingson declined to discuss her grandson's death, saying the family may pursue a lawsuit. Reinsch said it will be a few days before a more detailed report of the incident is available.

Register reporter Linh Ta contributed to this story.