Georgia Legislative Black Caucus demands answers after Sapelo Island dock collapse killed 7

Caption

Georgia Rep. Carl Gilliard speaks at a news conference hosted by the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus on Monday evening at the McIntosh County mainland dock near Sapelo Island.

Credit: Benjamin Payne / GPB News

The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus and civil rights attorneys held a news conference Monday evening near Sapelo Island in McIntosh County, vowing to seek accountability and justice after part of a state-operated ferry dock collapsed Saturday on the island, killing seven people.

“There are some questions about the infrastructure, about what could have been prevented and what we can do moving forward to do right by Sapelo Island,” said GLBC Chairman and Georgia Rep. Carl Gilliard. “We are here to not only offer in our prayers and condolences, because prayers without works is dead.”

Approximately 700 people were visiting Sapelo Island on Saturday for an annual festival celebrating Gullah Geechee culture, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The island is accessible to the public only by boat, as there is no bridge.

At around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, about 20 people waiting to board the ferry back to mainland McIntosh County fell into the water when the dock's aluminum gangway collapsed due to a “structural failure,” according to the DNR.

Seven people ranging in age from 73 to 93 died, including a DNR chaplain. It was not clear how many of the deceased were Gullah Geechee, but none were Sapelo Island residents.

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A bouquet of flowers is affixed to the McIntosh County mainland dock near Sapelo Island.

Credit: Benjamin Payne / GPB News

“What are we going to do to maintain that this will never happen again?” Gilliard said. “This is an atrocity. And, through the state of Georgia, it's an audacity.”

Several law firms are representing injured victims and family members of the deceased, including the firm of prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump.

Mawuli Davis, the founding partner of Savannah-based Davis Bozeman Johnson Law, said that when he attended law school, he visited Sapelo Island as a graduate research assistant in Georgia State University's African American studies department.

“I got to sit and learn from the giants, who are now ancestors, who I know are watching over us — that great cloud of witnesses who are saying that justice must be served, that these families must have a voice and that we're here to give them that voice,” Davis said.

Sapelo Island resident and descendant JR Grovner told GPB that he notified a DNR ferry captain three or four months ago that he thought it was in poor condition and would collapse, but that the captain dismissed his concerns.

The DNR declined to comment on Grovner's allegation.

The dock was built in 2021 and had its last inspection in December 2023, according to the agency.

The gangway was removed Sunday and transported to an undisclosed facility for an investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the DNR's Critical Incident Reconstruction Team to determine the cause of the structural failure.

Attorney Francys Johnson said that although it was “appropriate” for the GBI to conduct an investigation, “the state is not the very best actor to be investigating itself. So, lawyers in the public interest … are here to do that.”

Sapelo Island resident and descendant Reginald Hall said that the state and McIntosh County have a long history of underinvesting in the island's infrastructure and resources.

“Our goal is equity, services and our taxes to be represented properly,” Hall said. “We've been abused — and paying to be abused through our taxes.”

A special legislative hearing into the dock collapse has been scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 29.