Quote:
Originally Posted by secondcurve
Dave
What if it is found that Captain Naut Guilty allowed his boat to be piloted by someone without a proper license? I don't know this to be a fact but if I were a betting man I'd bet that the idiot who had the boat motor running while there were swimmers in the water doesn't have the proper credentials to operate the boat. Further Captain Naut Guilty had an unregistered boat and he allowed heavy drinking on his vessel and many of the kids weren't of legal drinking age. These actions clearly contributed to this tragedy. Dave, I consider you to be the foremost expert on boating on this forum. However, I think you will be found to be wrong on Captain Naut Guilty's liability.
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Please bear in mind, I have no skin in this game, I am just trying to look at it from a pragmatic point of view based on information provided by news outlets.
The burden of proof of a crime rests with the state and if it's true that the captain was not even on the boat when the accident happened, that makes it impossible to convict him of causing the accident. It's not illegal to own a boat AND be drunk AND be swimming near the boat. It's illegal to operate the boat while drunk and there's no proof he did, if you believe the news reports. One could easily argue that the boat was operated without the captain's permission.
As far as the alcohol goes, he may be charged with providing it to underage people, but that's not nearly as bad as the charges he'd face if he backed the boat over a swimmer while drunk. If the passengers were all over 18, he'd likely just pay a $300 fine, if convicted because the boat is not a business that is licensed to sell alcohol and the crime is just a violation. From what I've read, he was not the only one on board that was old enough to possess alcohol, so he can very likely avoid charges on that too.
If the boat was indeed unregistered, he will likely face a a minor fine.
There were lots of poor decisions made that night, but the state needs to prove guilt of a crime, not poor decision making. They may not even be able to prove who was operating the boat when the accident happened. The key witnesses were all likely drunk and a defense attorney would simply argue that their memories are suspect.