A North Texas father, Brent Slough, remains hospitalized in Miami after a boat’s propeller nearly severed his lower body during a family vacation in the Bahamas, and his wife is pressing Bahamian authorities to charge those responsible.
The 42-year-old former Army Ranger underwent surgery last week to address deep wounds that cannot be sutured, as his family plans his potential transfer back to Dallas.“He is doing ok after that surgery,” Whitney Slough, Brent’s wife, said in an interview with CBS News Texas. “So, we are now trying to figure out our plan of when we can get transferred to Dallas and what that looks like.”
The incident occurred on June 30 when Brent and his two daughters were snorkeling about 20 feet from the shore.
“I saw this boat speeding so close to shore, and I was like, ‘What the hell?’” Whitney recalled, per CBS.
Brent described feeling a sudden impact: “I felt like a thump thump, and I was like, ‘Did I just get hit by a boat?’”
The propeller left devastating injuries, with Whitney noting, “His bottom was almost completely detached from his legs.”
Brent added, “My left leg wasn’t functioning, and I felt like something was wrong with my lower body.”
Their teenage daughter used a float to rescue her father as the boat, captured on security footage, sped away.
“So I surfaced and I looked to my right and I see two guys in a boat and one of them looks back and they just keep on going,” Brent said. He was transported in a truck to an ambulance jet after a doctor in the Bahamas urged him to “Please get to a hospital in Miami, you need to get to the U.S. for something this traumatic.”
Whitney, shuttling between Miami and North Texas as their children prepare for school, is urging Bahamian authorities to act. She said the three men on the boat were identified and briefly detained, but have been released.
“I don’t know what I should really say about this, but I feel like the more people that are calling them, the better to keep this front and center, so they really pursue criminal charges against these men that did this to Brent,” she said. “I want justice for Brent.”
Friends are collecting donations to cover medical costs, including the cost of an air ambulance to bring Brent home, possibly as soon as next week. The family continues to navigate his recovery while seeking accountability for the incident.