A former Special Forces sniper who admitted to causing the drunken boat crash that killed a young girl and seriously maimed a woman has been sentenced to prison.

Quinten Kight, 42, will spend a minimum of 12 and a half years behind bars after admitting to charges related to the death of Brooklyn Carroll, 10.

Carroll was killed while swimming at Shearon Harris Reservoir in North Carolina on August 2, 2025. 

The crash also severely injured her best friend’s mom Jennifer Stehle, 41, who had to have her left leg amputated from the knee up.

Carroll was entering the fifth grade at West Lake Elementary School, where Stehle worked as a social worker. 

What was supposed to be a fun summer day with the Stehle family turned into a devastating tragedy after Kight rammed into Carroll and Stehle. 

Carroll was pronounced dead at the scene. Stehle’s left leg was shredded by the boat’s propeller, and her mutilated limb was amputated after she was airlifted to a hospital. 

Investigators found 39 empty beer cans on board the boat after Kight crashed into unsuspecting swimmers. The vessel belonged to his 56-year-old girlfriend, Annemarie Flanigan, who has also been charged.

Brooklyn Carroll, 10, was killed by a drunk boater on August 2, 2025, while swimming with friends in Shearon Harris Reservoir in North Carolina

The drunk driver, Quinten Kight, 42, pleaded guilty on Monday to second-degree murder and other charges and was sentenced to a maximum of 15 years and five months in prison

Carroll was at the lake with the family of Jennifer Stehle, 41, a social worker at her elementary school and her best friend’s mom. Stehle was also severely injured in the crash

Kight was charged with second-degree murder, two counts of death or serious injury by impaired boating, driving a motor boat while impaired, and operating a boat in a reckless manner. 

He pleaded guilty on Monday and was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years and six months in prison to a maximum of 15 years and five months in prison as part of his plea deal.

Prosecutors said that 39 empty cans of alcohol were found on the boat Kight was driving, which had at least ten other people on board, including four children. More than 50 cans were later found in the lake. 

Kight’s blood alcohol level was 0.17 – more than twice the legal limit – five hours after the crash.

He admitted to drinking at least two hard seltzers, investigators said in search warrants reviewed by The News & Observer.

After his release from prison, Kight will be under two years of supervised probation and he will not be allowed to operate any watercraft during that period.

The families of Carroll and Stehle have also filed civil lawsuits against Kight, as well as his girlfriend and other people who were on the boat at the time of the crash. Kight and Flanigan have invoked their right to the fifth while denying the lawsuits’ claims. 

The trials for those civil cases are expected to begin next summer. The Daily Mail has reached out to Kight and Flanigan’s attorneys for comment regarding those cases. 

Flanigan was arrested three days after the fatal crash. She was charged with second-degree murder and two counts of death or serious injury by impaired boating, as well as aiding and abetting a motorboat DWI.

Kight’s blood alcohol content was 0.17, more than twice the legal limit, five hours after his arrest. He is also being sued in civil court by the families of his victims

Kight’s girlfriend, Anna Flanigan, 56, owned the boat he was driving and is also facing charges including second-degree murder. She has pleaded not guilty

Flanigan’s case remains pending as of Monday and she has pleaded not guilty to her charges. 

Chas Post, Kight’s defense attorney, detailed his client’s military history during the sentencing hearing on Monday. 

The lawyer said that Kight enlisted in 2007 and was deployed more than 10 times before becoming a Green Beret and a Special Forces Sniper. 

Post also said that his client was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in 2022 and diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE, before he was discharged from the army. 

The traumatic brain condition is caused by repeated blows to the head and is commonly associated with football players and veterans. 

CTE is known to cause personality and behavioral changes such as depression and aggression, as well as cognitive impairment and loss of impulse control. The condition is closely associated with addiction and substance abuse. 

Post said that his client was ‘genuinely sorry’ for his actions, and Kight apologized to the families of his victims in court but did not look at them while he spoke, The News & Observer reported. 

Kight was convicted of driving under the influence in New Mexico in 2010, according to the civil lawsuits against him. 

Carroll’s parents described her as an outgoing young girl who loved to ride horses and play Roblox with her friends

Carroll’s parents shared heartbreaking impact statements during Monday’s hearing. The parents and daughter are pictured together

He was also cited for impaired driving in Chatham County in 2023 and had a pending hit-and-run charge against him in Moore County at the time of the fatal boat crash.

He pleaded guilty in January to hit-and-run, reckless driving and resisting, and obstructing or delaying police in relation to the Moore County case. 

Kight was sentenced to a minimum of five months in prison and a maximum of a year and three months in prison for the hit-and-run case. 

Stehle and Carroll’s parents shared heartbreaking victim impact statements during the hearing on Monday. 

Carroll’s dad, Matt Carroll, said: ‘Brooklyn was our everything, and she should still be here today. What happened to her was not an accident. She was just being a kid, wanting to have a good time with her friend.’ 

Her mom, Kim Cannon, said through tears: ‘I wake up every day knowing that somehow I have to live my entire lifetime without my daughter. We have to watch the world keep moving while mine stopped then. 

‘There’s no sentence you can receive compared to that. Our sentence is for the rest of our lives.’ 

‘I would give anything to have my leg back and for our family to have never experienced any of this,’ Stehle said.

‘However, I cannot change that day. Instead, I choose to move forward with faith, grace over bitterness, hope over despair.