ALEA denies fatalities from TikTok boat jumping trend

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July 10, 2023

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency has dismissed a story claiming Alabamians have died from the TikTok trend called boat jumping.

After a false news story circulated throughout national and international media claiming four deaths in the state had been attributed to the new trend, ALEA set the record straight.

“On Monday, July 3, a news story was shared regarding “first responders warning against a deadly boating TikTok trend after recent drownings” in Alabama. However, please be advised the information released to the news outlet was incorrect. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s (ALEA) Marine Patrol Division does not have any record(s) of boating or marine-related fatalities in Alabama that can be directly linked to TikTok or a trend on TikTok. One individual was fatally injured after jumping from a moving vessel in 2020 and a similar marine-related fatality occurred in 2021, however, both fatalities cannot be linked to TikTok.”

News outlets including NBC News, The New York Post, ABC 7 in Los Angeles, People.com and the Daily Mail in London, England, posted stories on the trend, wrongly reporting the Alabama fatalities.

Jim Dennis of the Childersburg Search and Rescue Squad, who was quoted in the stories, could not be reached for comment.

The Childersburg Fire and Rescue Department disassociated itself from the reports with a Facebook post:

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.

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