'He wanted to be big': Friends say drowning teen wanted to help family

Just one day after 16-year-old Ja'Quon Madaris drowned in the St. Lucie River, there is an overwhelming sense of grief among those who knew him.

WPTV reporter Joel Lopez spoke with the teen's mother Wednesday morning, who said they were still grieving and not ready to speak on camera.

Through our research, we learned that Madaris was a student at St. Lucie Acceleration Academies and had just graduated in May.

“Even though he was doing something he loved to do, it’s just tragic that it came to this,” said Octavia Williams, Madaris’ advisor at St. Lucie Acceleration Academies. “Of all the news I could have gotten yesterday, this was the last thing I expected.”

The academy is an alternative school setting to help students earn their degrees.

“My condolences go out to his family, it’s tough and in our line of work losing a child is painful,” Williams said. “A lot of times these kids don’t realize how much we care about them, so when something like this happens it hurts.”

Williams describes Madaris as someone with a heart of gold, who was always helpful, friendly and outgoing.

Acceleration Academies released the following statement:

“The staff at St. Lucie Acceleration Academies would like to extend our deepest condolences to Ja’quon’s family, friends and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they navigate this loss. Ja’quon was a steadfast presence at St. Lucie Acceleration Academies and had a lasting impact on all those around him. In light of this tragedy, we want to emphasize that we will have counselors on site next week who will be available to provide support and guidance to our students and staff during this time.”

Williams said that when he met Madaris, the teenager had set a goal to graduate high school early, and he did.

“He just knew he wanted to be great and he wanted to put himself in a position to be able to provide for his family, that's all he talked about,” Williams said.

It's a goal he hoped to achieve through his online fishing channel.

“To me, it shows how much he loves his family, how much he loves other people,” said Daniel Toback, the man behind the St. Lucie County Scanner page on Facebook.

Toback shared a post in which hundreds of people showed overwhelming support.

Did the family receive the same support that you saw online?

“They did, they absolutely did. They saw everything you post, all the nice comments,” Toback said.

He said that in June he received a Facebook message from Madaris asking for advice about his channel after the death of his 9-year-old niece.

“He loved fishing, he talked a lot about how he wanted to grow this channel so that one day it would become a full-time channel and be able to support his family,” Toback said. “He talked about losing this person and it broke his heart and he tried to help his family get over it.”

“Is that what he wanted to raise money for?” Lopez asked.

“Absolutely, for that and also to help his parents and pay the bills and things like that,” Toback said.

Toback said that through the group members, they are working with a local bank to set up an account where the community can donate money to help meet the family's needs.

“We really want to be able to give them resources that they can really focus on, you know, recovering from this, trying to get their act together and worry about the important things,” Toback said.

The family expects Ja'Quon's funeral to cost tens of thousands of dollars, and the family has created this GoFundMe page to help raise money.

Port St. Lucie police told WPTV they have received two open water calls so far this year, including yesterday's drowning. They said the other case involved a toddler who drowned in a pond in February.

With other recent drownings, we wonder what is in place to keep people safe when they are in the water in areas like the St. Lucie River.

“I think you always have to focus on continuous improvement, right? Ways to get better,” Police Chief Richard Del Toro said. “A lot of people fish there, even though it’s not really a fishing area, but look, Florida is what it is, it’s a very recreational activity that people do all the time.”

San Francisco police said the teens arrived at the river yesterday after crossing the north side of the St. Lucia Bridge and going down to the ocean. As we drove past, we saw a fence along the bridge and signs saying no trespassing.

Could better signage help prevent future drownings?

“I don’t think signage is really the answer because there are so many different waterways and miles that you can’t cover it all with that much signage,” Del Toro said. “I think the most important thing is to have a conversation with people, young people, especially kids, when they’re younger, talk to them about the dangers of water, make sure people take swimming lessons if they can.”

Near where the teenager drowned is also the Riverwalk. Currently, there appears to be construction going on to connect the promenade from the north side of the bridge to the south end.

There are a few visible signs saying no swimming and some fainter ones about marine life, but no life-saving equipment like flotation devices.

“Is that something that could be considered to put some of these measures in place?” Lopez asked.

“The Riverwalk is a great destination in the city of Port St. Lucie, so we’re always going to be looking for ways to focus on continuous improvement, so that’s definitely a discussion we can have with our parks department and the city,” Del Toro said. “We don’t have all the ideas, so any time people bring them to us, we’ll definitely consider them.”

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