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Hung Jury Keelhauls Victims of Long Lake Tragedy

October 15, 2008 - The deaths of Raye Trott and Suzanne Groetzinger under the helm of Robert Lapointe are certainly a terrible tragedy.

The taking of these people from our community through such a wanton act as running them over in an oversized speedboat at 30 or more miles per hour in the dark, slicing them up with his boat's propellers, is gruesome.

The failure of the jury to convict LaPointe on the prima facia charge of negligent homicide is disturbing.

The fact that the jury convicted LaPointe on the weakest charge (OUI) cries out for scrutiny.

In terms of negligence, if Lapointe could not see beyond the visible envelope of space in front of his boat in order to recognize, anticipate and avoid a potential collision – especially at night when the margin of reaction time is vastly reduced – then LaPointe failed to meet standing rules of safe watercraft operation.

U.S. Coast Guard rules, covered in the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, also apply to inland waterways and have been in effect since 1983.

Part B of Rule 6, Steering and Sailing Rules, Section 1 of the Coast Guard Navigation Rules states in part that every vessel shall at all times proceed at a safe speed so that she can take proper and effective action to avoid collision and be stopped within a distance appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and condition.

It doesn't matter whether someone else's lights are on or not.

It doesn't matter if whatever happens to be in an operator's path is a log, a critter, a kayaker, a swimmer or Raye and Suzanne.

It doesn't even matter whether there is an object in the operator's path or not.

All that matters is that LaPointe couldn't and didn't maintain control of his boat because he was going too fast for existing conditions.

Drunk or sober, it was his responsibility to avoid a collision. The fact that LaPointe hit and killed two persons while going 30 or more miles per hour in his boat at night is thus strong evidence of criminally negligent manslaughter.

That LaPointe and his attorneys endeavored to obscure this fundamental rule of boating safety is understandable but nonetheless deplorable.

Through whatever artifice of strategy, we can thank LaPointe, his legal team and at least one misguided juror for undermining a common sense principle of boating safety.

If this verdict is left to stand, small craft boaters are left with no protections.

This augurs poorly for the safety and bodily integrity of those of us inclined to go out in a small boat at night to enjoy our lives and experience the quiet wonder of the Maine outdoors.

The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has also failed us by allowing these monster boats to veer off of offshore race courses and onto our lakes and streams.

"Performance" boats do not belong there.

The hull of a boat such as "No Patience" was not designed to become a consumer product under the control of one person. The hull was designed for offshore racing boats that would be crewed by two persons on a racing course.

The array of consumer appointments such as high-end audio systems, beverage coolers, cup holders, swivel seats, dials, panels and consoles distract a person by day and blind a person with light pollution at night.

With over half the boat given over to bow, raised, and in the black of night, during the Pleides meteor shower, LaPointe would have been lucky to make out a small craft or object (lit or not) at 10 miles per hour, never mind 30 to 65 miles per hour.

LaPointe's actions would have been reasonable, and therefore not negligent, if he had proceeded that night at headway speed – and only then if he were sober.

As things stand, commonsense principles of what constitutes negligence and what constitutes culpability in regard to boating safety now appear to be as irrevocably lost to us as Raye and Suzanne are.

And that is terribly tragic.

LaPointe caused two deaths. He must be retried for the deaths of these two innocent people.

By BRIAN LIPSETT October 9, 2008
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brian Lipsett is a resident of Naples.
– Special to the Press Herald


Lakes: Long Lake
Regions: Sebago


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