In my opinion, this is clear censorship by litigation. There was a tech-dirt discussion earlier this year about my site being sued by a live-a-board fatality. That litigation is still pending and it's my opinion that their primary focus is to quell the truth about what happened and why. The posters on SpearBoard and all divers in general have a right to be angry about what happened that day. They have a right to voice their opinion about the incident and the safe harbor laws are there to protect the site from such frivolous law suits. Unfortunately, the safe harbor laws don't have any teeth to bite the hand that tries to circumvent them. In karmic irony, these suits which seem designed to remove blame and rehabilitate a person's reputation, have the exact negative results. Only the lawyers get richer as their name gets dragged through the mud on a far larger scale.
FWIW, Ms Welch, as bad as the actions you portrayed seem after the accident, you got some facts wrong, it's worse than you think. This is what I understand the facts to be: The boat was on auto-pilot. It is thought that the Dr was texting or otherwise distracted. When he finally saw the Diver Down Flag, instead of dropping to idle speed, he sped up and turned his boat, right over Rob. He did not at any time reduce speed, but fled the scene, watching the rescue unfold behind him. He did not make any distress calls, he rendered no aid but he did have his lawyer meet him at the dock. At some point it's alleged that he even attempted to erase his GPS.
I am not sure why the Coast Guard did not also prosecute. It would appear that many maritime laws were flagrantly broken before and during this mishap. Causing a collision, leaving the scene of an accident, not rendering aid are among many he should have been charged with, IMHO.
My wishes go out to Tony, SpearBoard and the other litigants: I hope you prevail. Also to Rob: I hope we dive together again soon. Your demeanor through out all of this has been amazingly heroic.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by NetDoc.
(untitled comment)
FWIW, Ms Welch, as bad as the actions you portrayed seem after the accident, you got some facts wrong, it's worse than you think. This is what I understand the facts to be: The boat was on auto-pilot. It is thought that the Dr was texting or otherwise distracted. When he finally saw the Diver Down Flag, instead of dropping to idle speed, he sped up and turned his boat, right over Rob. He did not at any time reduce speed, but fled the scene, watching the rescue unfold behind him. He did not make any distress calls, he rendered no aid but he did have his lawyer meet him at the dock. At some point it's alleged that he even attempted to erase his GPS.
I am not sure why the Coast Guard did not also prosecute. It would appear that many maritime laws were flagrantly broken before and during this mishap. Causing a collision, leaving the scene of an accident, not rendering aid are among many he should have been charged with, IMHO.
My wishes go out to Tony, SpearBoard and the other litigants: I hope you prevail. Also to Rob: I hope we dive together again soon. Your demeanor through out all of this has been amazingly heroic.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by NetDoc.
Submit a story now.