We all know how easily this sort of tragedy can happen. And how easily it can be avoided.
On Sept. 22, 2015, Cooper Bacon, 76, a Coast Guard licensed captain from Cape May Court House, New Jersey, was driving a new Princess 60 from the Newport, Rhode Island, boat show down to the Norwalk, Connecticut, boat show. Also on board was mate William Noe, 3rd, of Woodbine, New Jersey.
It was 10:30 in the morning on a sunny, clear day.
At the same time, Walter Krupinski, 81, a rod and reel commercial fisherman from Stonington, Connecticut, was heading home after fishing off Watch Hill Reef in his 23-foot Steiger Craft center console.
The facts are that the Princess hit the Steiger Craft, killing Krupinski.
Noe said he had just left the head and hadn’t seen anything.
Bacon said he hadn’t seen the Steiger Craft.
In a trial before Magistrate Domenic A. DiSandro 3rd, chosen because he himself holds a Coast Guard Master’s License, Bacon pleaded not guilty.
Mark Jenkins, who specializes in computer forensics for the Coast Guard, testified that the Garmin GPS on the Princess showed it was going from 25 to 31 knots. The auto-pilot was engaged.
Adam Hill, an officer from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, who investigated the accident, testified that “the Princess essentially rode over the boat Mr. Krupinski was in. It ramped up and over his boat.”
Magistrate DiSandro found Bacon guilty of three violations of the Coast Guard navigation rules: Failure to have a proper lookout; failure to take action to avoid a collision, and improper overtaking of another vessel. Each violation carries a maximum $100 fine.
“The facts clearly show that had he maintained a proper lookout or had taken action to avoid the collision, it would not have occurred,” the Magistrate said. “The Princess 60 was the overtaking vessel and if there was any doubt about that, Mr. Bacon should have assumed he was in the overtaking position. He failed in these mandates.”
For more: http://www.thewesterlysun.com/news/stonington/10148149-154/captain-infatal-crashis-guilty.html
