A North Carolina boater who struck two people with his vessel , killing a 10-year-old girl and severing a woman’s leg , and then directed others to toss the alcohol cans on board rather than render aid is now headed to prison.
Quinten Kight, 41, received a sentence of between 12 years and just over 15 years after pleading guilty on Monday to second-degree murder, death by impaired boating, driving while intoxicated and serious injury by impaired boating, according to court records.
The crash on Aug. 2, 2025, claimed the life of 10-year-old Brooklyn Mae Carroll and left Jennifer Stehle, then 41, seriously injured on the Shearon Harris Reservoir, not far from Raleigh.
Monday’s sentencing hearing proved to be an emotional one.
“I will never be the person I was before August 2, 2025. There will always be someone missing,” Brooklyn’s mother Kim Cannon said, according to a courtroom report from local NBC affiliate WRAL. “Every milestone and every ordinary day, I will carry her absence with me.”
Brooklyn’s father Matt Carroll described his daughter as “my little buddy and my best friend.”
“Last August, I not only lost my daughter, I lost my heart, soul, Caniac, Wolfpack cheerleader, dog trainer, best friend in the whole world,” he said, per WRAL.
Stehle, who remained seated as she addressed the court, described the lasting toll of the crash. Her life had been “permanently altered,” she said.
“Because of the boat crash, I lost my leg,” she said. “In a matter of moments, the life I knew became a life filled with surgeries, recovery, rehabilitation, pain, adjustments and learning how to do things I never had to think twice about.”
Stehle’s daughter and Brooklyn were best friends. They had set out for what was meant to be an enjoyable day on the family’s boat in the water on a sweltering August afternoon.
But Kight turned the outing into tragedy when he took the helm while drunk. On Monday, he spoke briefly to the judge and victims.
“I truly am sorry to the families. I can’t even imagine,” he said. “God’s with you, God’s with everyone.”
Brooklyn’s family and Stehle have filed separate negligence lawsuits against Kight and his girlfriend Annemarie Flanigan, who owned the boat, along with eight other adults who were aboard the vessel. Flanigan also faces charges of second-degree murder and other offenses. Her next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 14.
The lawsuits lay out what allegedly took place that day.
That morning, Kight and Flanigan bought roughly 80 to 100 cans of White Claw and other alcoholic drinks before heading to the lake around 11 a.m., according to the suits.
Brooklyn and her friend went tubing and played on a rope swing. Later in the afternoon, the Stehles motored to a spot where they believed it would be safe to swim near the boat. By that point, Kight had spent hours drinking, and it was “obvious” to anyone on board that he was intoxicated, the lawsuits alleged. Kight was the only person operating the vessel even though four people, Flanigan among them, were not drinking, plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote.
Around 4:30 p.m., Kight was towing two wakeboarders when one of them fell into the water. Kight allegedly kept going at a “high rate of speed,” looking back at the wakeboarders while still “headed straight” toward Brooklyn and Stehle, according to the suits. He allegedly drove the boat “directly over” the two swimmers.
One of the people aboard said she heard a “weird noise,” and they looked into the water and spotted the two swimmers “floating in the water.” The impact was so forceful that the propeller broke, the suits stated.
Kight allegedly continued driving for another 150 yards and instructed his friends to “toss everything overboard.” Investigators recovered 39 empty alcohol cans from the boat and another 50 or more from the water, plaintiffs allege. When officers spoke with Kight, they observed that he had “red and glassy eyes, that his speech was hard to understand, and that he had strong odor of alcohol.”
More than five hours later, authorities drew a blood sample revealing a blood alcohol content of 0.17 , more than twice the legal limit , according to the suits.
“Collectively, Defendants’ reckless and senseless actions and decisions that day caused devastating and irreversible injuries, shattering the lives and wellbeing of two innocent families forever,” the Stehle lawsuit stated.
Kight and Flanigan remain held at the Chatham County Jail on $1 million bonds.
As previously reported, Flanigan in September 2025 asked that her bond be reduced by half. Her attorney, Joshua Xerri, described her as a recently retired U.S. Army combat nurse with a 19-year-old son with autism who relies on her care.
“Every day that Ms. Flanigan is in jail is a day that her son is not getting the care and support he needs and was getting from Flanigan,” Xerri said, according to a courtroom report from local ABC affiliate WTVD. “There is no allegation from the state that Ms. Flanigan had been drinking, intoxicated, or operating the boat in any way.”
Prosecutors, however, argued that Flanigan’s bond should remain unchanged, even though she was sober at the time of the crash.
“What we have, Your Honor, is someone who had years of watching this guy hurt people when he gets drunk,” District Attorney Jeff Nieman said, per local NBC affiliate WRAL. “She’s the one who handed the keys to a drunk person.”
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