Tug boat pilot, Matthew Devlin, pled guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge on Monday, August 1, 2011. Two tourists died from the accident on July 7, 2010, when a barge crashed into a duck boat that was stalled in the Delaware River. The operator did not receive notice that the duck boat was stopped in his path because he had turned his radios down to make phone calls on his cell phone and search the Internet on a laptop. Unable to hear the warnings, the tug crashed into the small boat, causing the entire 37 passengers to fall into the water. The collision resulted in passenger injuries and 2 deaths which could have been prevented if the pilot had asked a crewmate to take over the lookout position.
The maritime lawyers at Schechter, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P., Accident & Injury Lawyers represent persons injured in boat collisions and families of victims of boat collisions.
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