Former NBA player Marcus Camby is subject to a wrongful death lawsuit filed Thursday, June 22, 2017. The suit was filed by Marcus Kendall McGhee in the U.S. District Court in Houston. McGhee is the father of Camby’s autistic nephew, 9-year-old Marcus Carter McGhee, who drowned in the manmade pond at Camby’s home in November. According to the suit, the child was son to Camby’s sister.
In the suit, McGhee claims the former NBA Houston Rocket player’s pond was not fenced in — offering no protection to keep the child away from the water — which led to his son’s death while visiting family at Camby’s Pearland home. The report also alleges Camby did not properly supervise the child despite knowing of his nephew’s limitations.
Local news sources report that search crews and law enforcement conducted a search when the child went missing last Thanksgiving afternoon. The search concluded the weekend after Thanksgiving, with searches getting more community support when he was missing more than 24 hours. Locals were asked to check their home security footage and volunteers looked in a six-mile radius around the property. The boy was said to be shy around strangers and non-verbal, leading search parties to play ‘Wheels on the Bus’ — his favorite song.
When the body was found, Camby even expressed his gratitude to those who helped look when speaking with local news outlets:
“My family and I would like to thank the Pearland police department, search and rescue and everyone from the community who assisted in the search for my nephew Marcus. Losing a child is every parent’s worst nightmare and we are heartbroken.” He then claimed that he and his family would be “front and center” to help before requesting privacy.
Marcus Camby played in the NBA for 17 seasons and was named Defensive Player of the Year in the 2006-07 season, having the most blocked shots per game on average. Starting his career on the Toronto Raptors, he made his longest stays with the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets, playing for the Houston Rockets in 2012 and finally retiring from the Knicks in 2013.
