Jul 14 2009
10 freaking months?!?!
November 2007, friends, is when the Cosco Busan hit the Bridge. We are just now getting our wildlife back to pre-spill levels, but it’s clear that things were really disrupted. Our blue heron is forever gone, as is our favorite harbor seal.
And in the face of that, they’re only going to give John Cota 10 months maximum? And a two-month minimum. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME???
Here’s what SF Gate has to say:
(07-13) 17:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — The pilot of the container ship that struck the Bay Bridge in November 2007 ignored basic safety precautions, lied to licensing authorities about his prescription drug use and should be sentenced to 10 months in prison, the maximum recommended by his plea agreement, federal prosecutors have told a judge.
Capt. John Cota’s lawyers asked for a two-month sentence, the minimum term in the plea agreement, and argued that prosecutors were making the 61-year-old pilot a scapegoat in “an accident with many causes.”
…
Prosecutors did not allege that Cota was under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident. But they said his pilot’s license – for a job that paid nearly $500,000 a year – could have been held up if he had told the truth to state regulators.
Cota’s lawyers said he has already suffered public humiliation and the loss of his career. Cota “fully accepts responsibility for his failures,” they said.
But they said others were also to blame, including the ship’s captain and crew members, whom the lawyers called poorly trained and unfamiliar with the equipment. The crew was granted immunity from prosecution.
The lawyers also said the Coast Guard might have prevented the crash had it warned the Cosco Busan that it was headed for the bridge.
Noting that the captain of the Exxon Valdez served no jail time for the 1989 Alaska oil spill – which prompted passage of the law under which Cota is being sentenced – his lawyers said, “The fact that Capt. Cota is going to prison at all is enough to give pause to pilots around the world.”
That last swipe at the Coast Guard absolutely nauseates me. You can read the rest here. And that sound you hear is me holding my breath until Friday.
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