Acquittal after MOB death
A US charter skipper has been acquitted of manslaughter after a crewman jumped overboard to his death in 2015.
Rick Smith, 66, had been charged with negligence contributing to the death of David Pontious, 54, who was sailing with Smith on board the 43ft yacht Cimarron in October 2015. Pontious was one of four crew delivering Cimarron from Maine to the US Virgin Islands. He was a last minute crew change, and he and Smith had never met before.
Shortly after setting off, Pontious became seasick and disorientated.
The other crew told US Coastguard investigators that he appeared to be experiencing hallucinations and hearing voices, and was making erratic calls on the VHF.
Pontious allegedly punched and tried to choke Smith, attempting to take control of the helm when they were 300 miles offshore. He was hallucinating that he had been kidnapped, and told the crew that there was a door in the sky, which he wanted to steer towards.
Jacob Pepper, one of three other crew on the delivery, told investigators that Smith spun the boat rapidly, unbalancing Pontious, before telling Pontious: “Touch my equipment again and I will slit your throat.”
Shortly after, Pontious reportedly said: “If you won’t go left, I’ll go there myself.” He then climbed over the port lifelines and jumped into the Atlantic in the early hours of the morning. Pontious is reported to have banged his head on the toerail and sunk without trace.
Smith called on the VHF but no other vessels responded. He plotted the co-ordinates of where Pontious fell, but did not throw any MOB equipment into the water, set off the EPIRB, attempt a recovery or begin a search pattern.
The following day Smith reported the incident during a scheduled SSB radio call to his weather router. The US Coastguard dispatched a plane to the area that afternoon, at which point Smith threw a life ring into the water, telling another crew member: “Can’t say I didn’t throw a life ring.”
Smith was questioned by US Coastguard investigators after the incident, who found that Pontious jumped in the midst of a violent psychotic episode, and that Smith was not at fault. However, nearly three years later Smith was charged in the US Virgin Islands under a little used federal statute law of ‘seaman’s manslaughter’, that his ‘misconduct, negligence and inattention to duties’ had led to Pontious’s death.
Prosecutors argued that Smith was negligent in not seeking medical attention for Pontious and for not attempting to rescue him.
Smith was acquitted last month, after Judge Curtis Gomez agreed with the defence team that Smith had been charged under a statute that applies only to vessels engaged in commercial activity. As none of the crew on the delivery was a paying customer, the statute did not apply.
‘HE CLIMBED OVER THE LIFELINES AND JUMPED INTO THE ATLANTIC’