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Another suit filed in drownings

Posted January 14, 2009 10:00 pm

The family of Jimmy Avant, one of three Chicago teens who drowned last November while on a leadership retreat at McHenry County's Camp Algonquin, have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in Cook County.

The lawsuit names the McHenry County YMCA, which operates the camp; VisionQuest International and VisionQuest Association, which organized the retreat, and North Lawndale College Prep, the high school that sponsored the event. Eighteen-year-old Avant, Melvin Choice, 17, and Adrian Jones, 16, drowned while attending the retreat.

The boys drowned Nov. 14 in the Fox River after they left their dorm in the middle of the night and took paddleboats out on the river. Unbeknown to the boys, the plugs had been removed from the boats, which caused them to fill up with water and sink. Avant and Jones drowned when their boat sank. Choice drowned attempting to rescue them.

The Avant lawsuit requests damages in the amount of $50,001. It marks the second wrongful death lawsuit resulting from the incident. Choice's mother Virginia earlier filed suit against the same defendants requesting the same amount in damages.

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