Truth about Staten Island Ferry....

[pojo]

Staten Island Ferry Was Going Full Speed

By LUKAS I. ALPERT
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Staten Island ferry that crashed, killing 10 people, was going at full speed as it hurtled into the pier, a federal investigator said Friday.

"It was not speeding up but ... it was under what we'd say full speed at the time," National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Ellen Engleman told ABC's "Good Morning America."

"What was happening is it was not slowing down," she said. She said the finding was based on evidence from the engine and other technical information. Some witnesses had said it seemed the boat could have been speeding up.

Also Friday, a former city official said the ferry pilot who attempted suicide after the crash, Assistant Capt. Richard Smith, had been transferred to other duties after a 1997 clash with inspectors and he was stunned to learn he was back at the controls.

The ferry Andrew J. Barberi, carrying around 1,500 passengers from lower Manhattan to Staten Island, veered wildly off course Wednesday afternoon, crashing into a maintenance pier hundreds of feet from the slip where it normally docks at St. George Terminal. In addition to the 10 who died, 65 people were injured, including three who lost limbs.

Authorities were looking into whether Smith's blood pressure medication caused him to slump at the controls and whether other crew members - who might have been able to take over for him - were out of position.

Investigators confirmed that Smith also was at the helm of the Andrew J. Barberi when it crashed into the Staten Island dock in July 1995, injuring some passengers. That accident was blamed on a propeller failure.

In 1997, Smith was transferred off captain's duty on the Staten Island ferry after he refused to let an inspector interview him and inspect the captain's quarters, said Christopher Lynn, then the city's transportation commissioner. Spot inspections were being undertaken to look for overtime abuse and other problems.

Lynn said Friday that because of the clash, he transferred Smith to command a boat that ferried corpses to a potter's field.

"I drew a very negative imprint from the fact that he wouldn't let the inspector in," said Lynn, who first spoke to the New York Post. "When you have somebody that's carrying 6,000 people in a boat that cost $25 million, I took him off that."

Lynn, who left the commissioner's post in late 1997, said he was stunned to learn that Smith was at the controls of the crashed ferry. "I thought I had solved that problem," he said.

"I felt like someone punched me in the stomach when I saw that name," he said.

Smith, 55, remained hospitalized in critical condition and under police guard. Authorities said he bolted from the scene of the crash and twice attempted suicide at his home. He spoke with police Wednesday but was not interviewed in depth, Engleman said. Investigators will talk to him when it is "medically prudent," she said Friday.

A high-ranking law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators were probing what part prescription drugs might have played in the accident. Early blood sample results from Smith indicated alcohol was not a factor in the tragedy, the source said.

Investigators also were examining conflicting reports on the positions of other crew members.

Under city Department of Transportation procedures, the pilot and captain are typically both in the pilot house as the boat enters port. "If the policy ... was implemented at the time of the accident, we don't know," Engleman said earlier.

The NTSB, which is leading the probe, began interviewing deckhands and engineering crew members Thursday, as well as survivors of the crash and their families.

The possible role of prescription drugs emerged in comments Thursday by City Councilman Michael McMahon, who represents part of Staten Island, after a briefing with city officials. He said Smith collapsed at the controls and appeared to have lost consciousness because of "health problems and medication" - reportedly for a blood pressure problem.

"By the time the other captain could get control of the ship, it was too late," McMahon said.

An attorney representing Smith, Alan Abramson, spoke with the pilot's wife Thursday and issued a statement saying the family hopes "people will not rush to judgment."

Engleman said the NTSB investigation would consider other possible factors, such as the weather and engineering factors, and could take up to a year. It was windy at the time of the crash, but officials have said the ferries regularly operate in such conditions.

The hobbled ferry was moored next to the terminal where thousands of commuters boarded ships Thursday as service was restored. The ferries, with their free 25-minute cruises across New York Harbor, ordinarily carry 70,000 people daily between Staten Island and lower Manhattan.

The dead, one woman and nine men, ranged from age 25 to 52, police said. They hailed from all backgrounds - a diplomatic security expert at the United Nations, a chef at a Times Square hotel, an electrician.

In all, 65 people were treated for injuries sustained in the crash - 37 at Staten Island University Hospital and 28 at St. Vincent's Hospital, where Smith was also treated.

Three people suffered amputations. Fourteen people remained hospitalized Friday; six, including Smith, were in critical condition.

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Associated Press writers Tom Hays, Amy Westfeldt and Michael Weissenstein contributed to this report.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[JetMaxx]

That's a tremendous problem in America nowadays.....people prove they don't deserve to hold the job they have...get fired/ resign under pressure -- and somehow end up doing the same job again and innocent people suffer because of it.

We currently have a male teacher under arrest in Georgia for fondling and molesting 6th-7th grade girls. He was twice FIRED by other Georgia school systems for similar allegations, yet for some inexplicable reason, he was recently REHIRED as a teacher.

Once an employee (such as the ferry captain and this teacher) have proven themselves unfit for the job -- they should NEVER be given another chance. Because they were....10 people in New York City are dead; and several innocent 12-13 year old girls in Toccoa, Georgia have been violated (and this type of absolute stupidity occurs on job after job, career field after career field in America every single day -- and innocent folks are the ones who pay for it

[JCT777]

Thanks for posting the story, Shannon. It is very sad that people were injured and killed, espcially because someone was at the controls who should definitely not have been.

[Stephanie]

That makes the whole story that more troubling if Smith indeed had been fired from a similar post only to be rehired again.

[Skywatch_NC]

I say get Richard Smith out of the ferry business entirely! Sheesh!

He'll have to live with the fact of all those lives he shattered.

[cycloneye]

That is a tragic story that you are sharing with us Shannon and I hope that the guy is out of there.