Extensive Press Coverage of Court Proceedings

Ferry Pilot Smith Confesses Guilt;
Manager Ryan Indicted, Suspended

By Henry J. Stern
August 5, 2004

Yesterday was judgment day for the first of the Ferryboat Five.
 
Assistant Captain Michael Smith took the main fall for the Staten Island ferry disaster, pleading guilty to eleven counts of manslaughter for falling asleep at the switch.  He and his physician were also accused of lying in certifying that he was not taking prescription medicine when he applied to renew the Coast Guard for a license. Captain Michael J. Gansas was charged with lying to investigators, but not manslaughter.
 
Smith's boss, Director of Ferry Operations Patrick Ryan, was also charged with eleven counts of manslaughter, as well as obstruction of justice and lying to the Coast Guard. He and his assistant and brother-in-law, John Mauldin, were suspended with pay by New York City's Department of Transportation. The Sun quotes the city's corporation counsel as saying, "We do not believe that Captain Ryan was guilty of manslaughter. … Patrick Ryan has been a respected and loyal employee who brought about many improvements to the ferry over his long history of service."
 
Newsday reports that DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall declined to comment on the indictments. No negative inference should be drawn from her refusal to comment. The corporation counsel forbids people whom it is representing from making statements to the media, since what they say could affect pending litigation in a manner adverse to the city.
 
The Daily News, in a page 4 story by Bob Port not available on its website, described Ryan as "a survivor of tough ferry politics who is now fighting to stay out of jail." The News alleges that "Port Captain John Mauldin, who was indicted yesterday as well, is Ryan's brother-in-law. (Ryan) is despised by some ferry workers who have dared to challenge him on the docks. Two were beaten up by co-workers when they aired complaints. One sued the city and won. Another, a ship captain, sued and settled out of court.
 
"(Commissioner Weinshall's) office defended the decision to name Ryan to an $89,000-a-year post in charge of ferries in 2001, saying he got the job 'based upon his maritime abilities, his years of experience and knowledge of Staten Island ferry operations.' Ryan began working for the ferry in 1979 as a deck hand. He rose through the ranks and first became director of ferries in 1994.

"But he was demoted back to his civil service job as ship captain after city investigators caught him, on videotape, chauffering his then-girlfriend to her job in a city vehicle on city time while his state driver's license was suspended.

"Three times since Ryan took command of the ferry, the city comptroller's office has blasted the city Transportation Department for allowing nepotism and overtime abuses to flourish on the docks.  Each time, the audits traced the problem to Ryan.

"His lawyer defended him yesterday. 'I just think it's most unfortunate that Pat Ryan has been charged with manslaughter,' attorney Thomas Fitzgerald said. 'This is a person who, I believe, events will show performed his job conscientiously and carefully."
 
Several questions arise in following up on the investigation. The U.S. attorney may already have looked into this, and not yet disclosed the answers.
 
1) Who re-appointed Ryan in 2001, and was that person aware of his past record in the agency?  Were any public officials or political leaders involved in recommending him, in 1994 and in 2001?
 
I know from experience that sometimes personnel decisions are not made within the affected agency. One should not assume without knowledge who is responsible. But to hire someone who lost the same  job for bad conduct is most unusual. Even if the charges against Ryan were withdrawn or dismissed, were not the underlying facts true? Were there no experienced ferry managers who did not have these ethical issues, and who had no connection with ferry employees being physically attacked on the docks?
 
2) After Ryan was appointed, to whom did he report? How often did he meet with his supervisor?   Did Ryan prepare written reports of what he was doing, what problems he had encountered. and what was the status of his efforts to deal with them? Did his supervisor give him any instructions on managing the ferries? Who appointed the supervisor, and what were his credentials?
 
To quote from Thursday's Times, "(United States Attorney Roslynn) Mauskopf was scathing yesterday in her criticism of Mr. Ryan, saying his lapses included a failure to enforce the two-pilot rule, a long-standing policy that she says could have prevented the crash. 'This was a tragedy waiting to happen,' she said. 'The crash of the Barberi had foreseeable causes that Patrick Ryan saw and ignored.'"
 
What happened here is outrageous.   Airplanes with dozens of passengers have co-pilots. Yet a ferryboat that could have thousands aboard has only one man at the wheel.  Even if Captain Smith were healthy and not taking medication, he could still have had a sudden heart attack or a stroke. Basic concern for passenger safety, as well as common sense, require that someone be on hand to take the wheel in such an eventuality.  Clark Whelton has made a practical suggestion: put in a dead man's throttle - so if the man steering becomes incapacitated and cannot exert pressure on the wheel, the boat's engines would stop and an alarm would ring.  That plan involves no increase for the cost of labor.
 
The city's capable and hard-working corporation counsel, Michael A. Cardozo, is in a difficult legal situation. It is beyond doubt that the disaster was caused by the negligence, at least, of city employees. Mr. Cardozo has tried to settle the lawsuits on reasonable terms.  But the total claims so far are an astronomical 3.2 billion dollars. The city must not be allowed to be brought to, or over, the brink of bankruptcy by a single accident.   Hopefully, maritime law will limit the city's liability to the value of the ferryboat, said to be 14 million dollars.  Since the accident, the Andrew J. Barberi (the boat was named for a Staten Island high school football coach) has been repaired.
 
The plaintiffs' lawyers may try to climb the food chain to place responsibility on other city officials, in an effort to secure punitive damages under which their clients would be further enriched at public expense.  I suggested back in October that these accident cases should be handled together, with any recovery divided proportionately to the injuries received by each victim.  It would be wrong for one plaintiff to do much better, or worse, than the others simply because he/she had a more able, or less able, attorney.  The issues of consolidation and limitation of liability should be considered before any trials are held.
 
It is a shame that, under our gladiatorial practices of determining tort liability, even in cases like this one where the facts are relatively undisputed, the measure of damages should depend on the attorneys' ability to paint a pathetic picture of his/her client. But, under current law, that is the American way of determining these issues. Can you imagine how much Senator John Edwards could extract from a jury dealing with this fact situation?

All five dailies featured the ferry story prominently. There are so many press clips that we have listed them below, by newspaper, rather than embedding them in the narrative.

The Times, at the top of page A1, in "Ferry Director Is Charged by U.S. in Fatal Accident," by Michael Luo, analyzes the charges. It describes the prosecution as "an unusual, two-pronged approach to one of the worst mass transit catastrophes in New York City's history," referring to the charge of 'seamen's manslaughter,' a little-known law dating back to 1838 now leveled against the ferries' operations director, Patrick Ryan, and the Barberi's pilot, Richard Smith.

The News, on its cover, ran pictures of ten of the victims. The banner headline: "THREE MONTHS FOR EACH LIFE." Pages 4 and 5 were entirely devoted to the story, with the lead by John Mazzulla and Corky Ciemaszko, interviews with victims' families by Kathleen Lucadamo and Dave Goldiner, rider comments by David Saltonstall, City Hall bureau chief, and Bob Port's article on Patrick Ryan, quoted at length on page 1 of this article.

Newsday, which has had intense coverage of the ferry tragedy, led with the story on page A1 and a banner headline, "I Was Reckless."  It includes three pieces, on A4 and A5: a news story by Anthony M. DeStefano, "Pilot Admits he cause crash," focusing on Smith's confession, a news story by Graham Rayman, "An indictment of management," dealing with Ryan's role, and an analysis by Mr. DeStefano, "If director is found guilty, city stands to lose billions."

The Sun, in "Blame in Ferry Case is Pinned on an Official" on page 1, by David Hafetz, emphasized the degree to which the blame is on Ryan, and noted that the charges may leave the city vulnerable to claims of substantial damages.

The Post's coverage includes a news story by Kati Cornell Smith and Clement Lisi, "S.I. Ferry Pilot Pleads Guilty," a column by Steve Dunleavy, "At least he faced it like a man," both on page 4, and two articles on page 5, "Boss asleep at switch: feds," by Ms. Smith, and "Doc's 'blank check' shocker," also by Smith. A Post editorial on page 36, "A Ferry Tale," welcomes Smith's admission of guilt and says "the indictments charge, there was an attempt by several key figures — including city officials —  to cover up the failures that led to the tragedy. It also expresses hope that the 'old Staten Island ferry culture' is in fact a thing of the past.