SI Ferry Pilot, Director Get Prison
Tom Hays
Associated Press
Newsday
_______
New York (US):
The pilot who passed out at the helm of the Staten Island ferry before a deadly 2003 crash delivered an impassioned apology to the families affected by the wreck, saying at his sentencing that he is prepared to face his punishment.
"I was on the wheel. I was responsible. I stand ready to suffer the consequences," Assistant Capt. Richard Smith said Monday.
Smith, who was sentenced to a year and a half in prison, recalled how he was too exhausted to have been working the day he caused one of the worst mass-transit disasters in New York history.
"I will regret for the rest of my life that I did not just call in sick," he said.
_______________________________________
It remains a mystery why Smith blacked out - the judge ruled
prosecutors failed to prove it was linked to the meds he
was taking. After the horrific crash, Smith saw the carnage
and "I felt I could not live with myself."
_______________________________________
The city's former ferry director, Patrick Ryan, was sentenced to one year and a day in prison on related charges in a crash that killed 11 people and left dozens of passengers maimed and injured.
The sentences stemmed from a gusty afternoon on New York Harbor in October 2003, when the Andrew J. Barberi set out on a routine run from lower Manhattan with about 1,500 passengers and Smith alone in the wheelhouse.
As the vessel approached Staten Island, Smith _ suffering from extreme fatigue and on painkillers _ blacked out. The ship drifted and hit a concrete maintenance pier at full speed, leaving dozens of passengers maimed and injured amid shredded metal and broken glass.
Jan 10, 2006
Tom Hays
Associated Press
Newsday
_______
New York (US):
The pilot who passed out at the helm of the Staten Island ferry before a deadly 2003 crash delivered an impassioned apology to the families affected by the wreck, saying at his sentencing that he is prepared to face his punishment.
"I was on the wheel. I was responsible. I stand ready to suffer the consequences," Assistant Capt. Richard Smith said Monday.
Smith, who was sentenced to a year and a half in prison, recalled how he was too exhausted to have been working the day he caused one of the worst mass-transit disasters in New York history.
"I will regret for the rest of my life that I did not just call in sick," he said.
_______________________________________
It remains a mystery why Smith blacked out - the judge ruled
prosecutors failed to prove it was linked to the meds he
was taking. After the horrific crash, Smith saw the carnage
and "I felt I could not live with myself."
_______________________________________
The city's former ferry director, Patrick Ryan, was sentenced to one year and a day in prison on related charges in a crash that killed 11 people and left dozens of passengers maimed and injured.It remains a mystery why Smith blacked out - the judge ruled
prosecutors failed to prove it was linked to the meds he
was taking. After the horrific crash, Smith saw the carnage
and "I felt I could not live with myself."
_______________________________________
The sentences stemmed from a gusty afternoon on New York Harbor in October 2003, when the Andrew J. Barberi set out on a routine run from lower Manhattan with about 1,500 passengers and Smith alone in the wheelhouse.
As the vessel approached Staten Island, Smith _ suffering from extreme fatigue and on painkillers _ blacked out. The ship drifted and hit a concrete maintenance pier at full speed, leaving dozens of passengers maimed and injured amid shredded metal and broken glass.
Jan 10, 2006
