Washington State Ferry Rail Jumper Fined

A passenger of a Washington State Ferry has been fined $5,000 for deliberately leaping overboard from the vessel previous to its departure from the Bremerton ferry terminal.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, on March 21, an grownup male passenger aboard the Washington State Ferry Kaleetan deliberately jumped overboard, sustained vital accidents and was recovered by ferry crewmembers aboard a rescue boat.

Rail leaping, or an try and enter the water with out permission of the vessel’s captain, is topic to a most civil penalty of $30,000.

The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1998 amended 46 USC 2302(a) by including “or interfering with the safe operation of a vessel, so as to endanger” the life, limb or property of an individual. While the earlier model of the statute solely allowed an operator to be charged, the modification offered the Coast Guard the power to pursue a civil penalty towards any person that interfered with the protected operation of a vessel.

“Crewmembers are responsible for passenger safety, and in this case, their attention was diverted away from the safe operation of the vessel,” stated Chief Warrant Officer Brian Hennessy, a member of the investigations and inspections division at Sector Puget Sound. “Fortunately for the person in the water, Washington State Ferry crewmembers are highly trained, and were able to swiftly recover the person, while keeping the remaining passengers safe.”