American legal case - powerboat hits yacht at night

S

shamrock

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 Oct 2001
Messages
302
Location
Cumberland, BC
www.tydewi.co.uk
I've searched these forums but can't find any reference to the current case going on in the US about a powerboat that hit a sailing boat a few years ago.

In short, a 24 foot powerboat is driven across a lake at 40-50mph on a moonless night. It hits a 27 foot sailboat, out for a pleasure cruise and doing 2-3kt. A woman on the sailboat dies.

The powerboat is being driven by an off duty sheriff. The county DA charges the man at the helm of the sailboat (not the owner/skipper, who was also on board) with manslaughter because he had apparently been drinking.

The case is reaching a critical point right now with closing arguments due.

Poorly designed but informative site here: http://justicefordinius.home.comcast.net

Massive discussion on Sailing Anarchy here: http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=72984&st=5450

And best of all, the poor guy charged in order to deflect attention form the sheriff driving the powerboat is responsible for all his legal fees etc. Donations welcome! I don't normally do that but this case has got me so riled up that I'm moved to contribute and write about it here. See what you all think.

Apologies if this is old news.

Nick.
 
The first link doesn't work. The second leads only to some uninformative tirades. Do you have a link to a factual report?

I posted a report of a similar incident on these forums a few weeks ago (policeman collides with stationary motorist, motorist has to pay for damage) and was told I was lying and no policeman anywhere in the world would dare do such a thing because of the furore it would cause.

If TV dramas are to be believed, all rural police in the US are corrupt. I have always thought that was nonsense but the fact that this one hasn't been thrown out of court on day one would seem to support the theory.
 
I do recall this case but not where I heard of it. A very intersting and worrying case.

I don't know much about any legal system but if the guy heliming the sailboat is found not guilty of causing the death of the other person on the same boat, and it is shown the (sailboat) boat did have lights and was in line with colregs, then the guy driving the powerboat could be tried separately?
 
tmh900 said:
I do recall this case but not where I heard of it. A very intersting and worrying case.

I don't know much about any legal system but if the guy heliming the sailboat is found not guilty of causing the death of the other person on the same boat, and it is shown the (sailboat) boat did have lights and was in line with colregs, then the guy driving the powerboat could be tried separately?
Click to expand...

They could probably get to the truth with a bit of waterboarding......................
 
There has been a lot of discussion about this in the magazine Latitude 38, a San Francisco based sailing magazine. This seems to be a real travesty of justice. Let's hope he is acquitted.
 
Unreal, I just simply cannot believe it, although I know its true. This is American back woods corruption at its peak.
 
A speedboat can be lawfully hammering along at night in an area where others may be boating?
Seems a little bizarre even if the yacht was speeding along at a drunken pace of say 5-6 knots with its lights off.
Mind you, it is in America!!
I've always thought we were only 10 years behind the U.S. in some things but having seen F1 powerboating through the Solent I'm not so sure. They all need locking up!
 
Last edited:
Just to put a slightly different slant, if the Breatherlyser is to be believed the guy on the Tiller had had something like 4 Pints of 5% beer (over a short time or more over a longer period). Not saying it makes it more his fault, just may set a scene.
 
Scotty_Twister said:
A speedboat can be lawfully hammering along at night in an area where others may be boating?
Click to expand...
That's exactly what the Judge has ruled.

The Judge who heard the evidence at the Preliminary Hearing has already ruled that the speed the motorboat was traveling was reasonably foreseeable on Clear Lake at night, and the chance of a collision with a sailboat not displaying the running lights required by law would also be reasonably foreseeable.

I can't see the relevance of the alcohol level, but essentially they are saying that its OK to drive at high speed in the dark and if you run into something that's not illuminated then its not your fault. Seems insane to me, but didn't some argue the same over here when that RIB ran into an unlit mooring buoy a couple of years ago?
 
It is the very thing that good people in all fields, and in all nations have to deal with. No matter how many good police are out there, it is the bad apples that seem to have all the political connections. There are many here, including those who hate federal intervention in anything, that would love to see a federal enquiry into how the authorities have abused their position to protect an undeserving police representative.
 
snowleopard said:
The first link doesn't work. The second leads only to some uninformative tirades. Do you have a link to a factual report?
Click to expand...

sorry, did it in a hurry and first post to this new site design. More factual reporting from ABC network in San Francisco, their investigative reporting team have really got their teeth into this one and are doing a nice job:
http://iteamblog.abc7news.com/

Quite a few videos from their TV news segments too:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=6962380

And the site that didn't work again, it's not well designed but gets the message over:
http://justicefordinius.home.comcas...nius/The_Strange_Case_of_Bismarck_Dinius.html

It really is a bizarre case, and a tragedy. Be interesting to see if the sherrif ever ends up facing charges.
 
I've been following this from the start, and it really does read like a bad novel.

The prosecution are displaying quite staggering misunderstandings of who is responsible for the safety of a boat. Their case is that the sailing boat had no lights on, and that Dinius was over the drink limit.
He was NOT the skipper, he was just the bloke holding the tiller of a nearly stationary boat.
So far SEVEN witnesses have testified that the lights were on, including an expert who examined the broken light and concluded it was on when it was smashed.

The only people who have testified that the lights were off were the three people on the power boat, and an expert who has no experience of marine investigations.

During the trial a juror has been seen having lunch with a close personal friend of the MOBO driver, but the judge won't even question the juror.

THIS STINKS.
 
NDH said:
The readers comments at the bottom of the article are well worth a read................
Click to expand...

Indeed they are!

Putting aside the vexed question of the DA declining to prosecute an officer of the law involoved in an accident, there are pointers here for UK sailors concerning the role of alcohol and navigation.

The DA laid great weight on the drink found in the helm on the sailing boat. Friends, this issue is coming to a waterway near you anytime soon! Sailors may not be keeping a lookout, have defective lights etc etc, but any evidence of alcohol in either the master or helm of a vessel involved in an accident will be taken as a negligence with resultant culpability.

For too long, sailors and MOBO operators in UK (and EU) waters have taken a casual attitiude to drink when on the move. It could be a very costly mistake, legally, whatever its contribution in actuality to accidents afloat.

We have been warned!

PWG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top