The City of New York is standing behind its director of ferry operations, Patrick Ryan, who was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on manslaughter charges arising from the Staten Island Ferry tragedy last October.
 
Ryan is clearly not the world's best director of ferry operations, but there is a long way between that observation and an indictment for causing the death of eleven people. The city is right to defend its employee from criminal charges involved in the performance of his duties, unless his crime was intentional. No one believes Ryan wanted the ferry to crash; his misconduct is said to stem from failing to notify employees properly about the rule requiring two pilots in a cabin, which was enforced sporadically or not at all over a period of years.
 
The Coast Guard, which has oversight responsibility over ferries, is said to have its own rule requiring two people to be in the cabin at all times, one of whom must be a licensed pilot. There was testimony that a second crewmember was in the cabin at the time of the collision, but was either preparing an incident report or doing a Daily News crossword, and therefore not looking at the slumping pilot. Others say that the reason the deckhands were not on deck at the time of the crash was that they were holding their regular afternoon card game.

The ferry pilot normally cuts the engine speed when the ferry passes a certain buoy, near Staten Island, and that signals the crew to take their places on deck. In this case, since the captain was unconscious, speed was never cut, and the crew played on. Another excuse offered was that the Yankees played the Boston Red Sox in Game 6 of the playoffs that afternoon. But since the ferry crashed at 3:20 and the game began at 4:05, it is unlikely that baseball diverted the attention of the crew.
 
At any rate, a combination of circumstances, but primarily the concealed illness of the pilot and the negligence of the crew, caused the unforgivable tragedy. But dereliction of duty by the boat staff does not prove that the director of ferry operations committed manslaughter. The indictment suggests overreaction to tragedy and deceit.

The 9/11 Commission found numerous failures by government agencies and individuals. The worst disaster in New York's history might well have been prevented if FBI and CIA agents had done their jobs properly. The stories of agents who gave warnings of terrorists taking flying lessons, which were ignored at headquarters, are heartbreaking. But that does not mean that the people who failed to act when they should have are guilty of manslaughter.
 
Ryan was negligent in failing to post the rules, and not seeing to it that they were obeyed. He was not accurate in speaking with the United States attorney, as federal law requires. Whether his self-serving statements materially misled anyone is another question. In any event, his oral omissions and misrepresentations (call them lies) are a far cry from committing manslaughter. It is known that prosecutors sometimes overcharge as an incentive to defendants to plead guilty to lesser charges. I do not believe that is the case here, but such things do happen, especially to recalcitrant or uncooperative witnesses.
 
The victims of the ferry tragedy are clearly entitled to compensation by the city for their injuries, expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering. Ryan's level of culpability should not affect the sum that the victims and their lawyers will share, because all acknowledge that, because of the failures of the pilot and the crew, the city is already responsible for the accident. Scraping the wounds to escalate the city's liability is not in the public interest.
 
People should understand that every cent the city pays in tort damages comes out of other services. The amount paid out by the city over the years as the result of tort claims increased to a record high in 2002, and declined somewhat last year. It is still about a half billion dollars a year, almost three times the Parks budget. There are no deep corporate pockets here to be picked; it is your taxes and mine that pay for these jury verdicts, which are often informed by outrage at the failings of some city employees.

The city is trying to limit its liability to the value of the vessel, some $14 million. From one seven-figure settlement already reached with an injured person, that may not cover all the forty-odd victims. But it would be a far better frame of reference for damages than the blue sky.
 
The accusation against Patrick Ryan has much more significance than his fate as an individual. The lawyers who are suing the city for over $3 billion on behalf of people injured or killed on the ferry are trying to connect the tragedy to higher city officials in order to generate additional damages for their clients and themselves.
 
In litigation against governments, the City of New York is treated far differently than the State of New York. When the city is sued, the case goes to a jury. When the state is sued, the case is decided by judges who sit in the Court of Claims, appointees of the governor. This frees the state from the threat of extravagant verdicts induced by emotional presentations by personal injury lawyers, or excessive sympathy for the injuries suffered by a claimant.
 
It would be simple fairness to have claims against the city adjudicated in the same way as claims against the state. The city has tried to have the State Legislature change the law to accomplish that. But a platoon of personal injury lawyers in Albany, led by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who is actually on the payroll of Weitz & Luxenberg, a personal injury law firm, at the same time as he presides over the Assembly, block any consideration of equal treatment of the city. Their dual employment with law firms is legal; in order to prohibit or restrict it, one would have to change the law. Yet legislators are highly unlikely to do anything to limit their personal income, even if the result is blatant conflict of interest.
 
So the city is justified in coming to the aid of director Ryan in his present difficulties. He may not be a very effective manager, nor is his brother-in-law, who is his assistant. Nine years ago he misused a city car and drove without a state license. If it were my agency and I were aware of those facts, I would not have appointed him.

But Patrick Ryan did not kill eleven people, and should not be prosecuted for it. Those who demand his prosecution for manslaughter as a way to punish the city should be aware that we are the city, and in protecting the city we protect ourselves. That is, except for those who are suing the city; it is in the interest of plaintiffs and their counsel to make the city appear as wicked and inept as possible. That is the subtext to the court proceedings, which complicates the corporation counsel's difficult and important task of protecting the City of New York while being fair to the victims of the tragedy and their families.

Today's daily newspapers continue with substantial coverage of the ferry story. The most comprehensive article is in the Times, on B1 and B4, "City Seeks to Limit Its Liability In Ferry Crash," by Michael Luo.

The Sun account is by David Hafetz on page 3, "Ferry Operations Chief Enters Plea."

Newsday's Anthony M. DeStefano reports "Ferry chief denies guilt," on page A16.

The News carries an account, "Ferry chief's legal tab is city expense," by Kathleen Lucadamo and John Marzulli on page 7, and an editorial, "Offensive defense," on page 46 (scroll down from the first editorial).

The article in the Post is by Kati Cornell Smith on page 7, "Harbored Secrets: Ferry boss in court on cover-up rap."

Have a safe weekend.