Fund Established For Euharlee Teen Who Drowned In Allatoona Lake

You can still donate money to help the family of the teenager who drowned in Allatoona Lake to cover funeral expense and take care of his infant son.

Organizers have met their goal to raise $5,000 to cover Chance Werner's funeral expense, and now are asking residents to contribute to the family's goal to raise $7,000 to help Werner's eight-month-old child, Brayden. No concrete funeral plans have been made by the family. 

Werner, 18, drowned over the Memorial Day weekend after being tied to a shopping cart as part of a game. 
 
"Since Chance would want his precious baby boy taken care of, any money left from the funeral and memorial services will go into a trust in Brayden's name," organizers wrote. "Again, we appreciate all your support; it really means a lot to our family."

Residents can also visit any branch of Wells Fargo Bank and make contributions to The Chance Werner Donation Account. 

Werner, a Euharlee resident, was playing a game at the Holiday Harbor Marina on the lake in which a person would sit in a shopping cart tied to a pole and the cart would be pushed off the dock. That would cause the person to pop out of the cart and they would swim back to the dock.

However, for reasons yet to be determined, the cart was not tied to a pole, but was instead tied directly to Werner.  

Werner was pulled into the lake by the cart and did not resurface. His body was discovered in about 30 feet of water with the cart still strapped to his body.

The Bartow County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday that it cannot confirm if Werner was drinking or not. Authorities are waiting for testing and lab results from his autopsy. At this point, Werner's death is considered an accidental death, the department said.

Werner was almost finished with his online classes needed to graduate and held a 3.48 grade point average before he passed away, according to the GoFundMe page. He also worked five to six days a week to support his son.

Werner’s sisters told FOX 5 TV in Atlanta that the game their brother was playing was a stupid mistake, and they question why nobody thought of the consequences of the stunt.

His sister Kara Doomy told FOX 5, “It was a stupid game, and it cost my brother his life.”

“We’ve all been that age, we’ve all done stupid things. … The level of disregard,” Doomy added.

And another sister, Charlee Klein, told FOX 5, “Did not one person think that this was not a good game to play? It’s something that could have been prevented. I mean, nobody should have to go through that. He had so much plans. … he wanted to be there for that baby.”

What Should You Read Next?

• Euharlee Teen Drowns In Allatoona After Being Tied to Shopping Cart
• Sisters on Shopping Cart Drowning: 'A Stupid Game'