Earlier today I was reading a blog post on Cruise Radio’s website, and it was about this man who dropped an anchor on a cruise ship while it was sailing, and he finally got his court day. I remeber hearing about this a while back when it happened, and was wondering how he would be punished. They don’t have a punishment yet for him, but here is the article from Cruise Radio,
Passenger who deployed cruise ship anchor pleads guilty
AUGUST 19, 2011
The man who dropped anchor on the ms Ryndam last November finally had his day in court where he plead guilty. Not that he had much of a case. Video showed the drunken California resident Rick Ehlert, 45, breaking into the control room, putting on gloves, grabbing a wrench and deploying the ships anchor while the vessel was moving.
Defense attorney Daniel Castillo tried to get the case dismissed last week by pleading that his client should be accused of stupidity. Yes, he really said that.
“He’s guilty of felony stupidity – that he is,” Castillo told a Florida newspaper. “But I don’t think it should be a federal crime.”
The US district judge didn’t buy that.
Charges can include up to 20 years in prison but experts are speculating that he’ll just get some type of probation.
Deploying an anchor on a moving vessel could puncture the steel, damage the propulsion unit, sink the vessel, even cause death or injury.
Photo credit: TheSmokingGun.com
What I don’t get is how no one saw him enter a crew only area, make his way into the anchor area, and then deploy it. I read that he had his own boat so he already knew how to operate the anchor, but I just find it surprising that no one saw him on his way to the anchor. So speaking of this, how would you punish him?
One reply on “Anchors Away!”
I at ban him from cruising on HAL, make him buy a new anchor, and som Community Service, other government fines, etc.