4 months prison sentence, 3 years probation for prank - dropping cruise ship anchor

[Liberal_in_LA]

Man headed to prison for dropping cruise anchor

A California businessman has been sentenced to four months incarceration and three years of probation for a drunken prank while aboard a Holland America cruise ship.

U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday also on Tuesday ordered 45-year-old Rick Ehlert to pay a $7,500 fine and to participate in substance abuse and mental health counseling.

The Thousand Oaks, Calif., man pleaded guilty last year to bringing the MS Ryndam to a halting stop when he dropped the 18-ton stern anchor on the MS Ryndam after a night of drinking. The ship was traveling at 18 knots as it returned to Tampa from Mexico on Nov. 27, 2010. The prank delayed the ship by three hours.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/03/07/state/n064746S82.DTL#ixzz1oSJeAS6b


Holland America says the 56,000-ton ship was not damaged however officials in the criminal complaint say Ehlert's alleged actions could have sunk the Ryndam.

Authorities say Ehlert was identified using surveillance footage and has admitted to releasing the anchor, as well as throwing a life buoy overboard. He reportedly told the FBI he was drunk at the time.

http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=159538

[Justice wanted]

1. Corporate Prison system gets more money Great. Really maybe I'm not getting the whole story

but did dropping the anchor kill or injure anyone? It was stupid and he should be punished I can see the fine but 4 months in jail?

[Webster Green]

5. 4 months in jail is not a draconian sentence for endangering so many people.

Basic physics tell us that this could have been a real disaster. They were lucky.

[joeybee12]

8. I agree...this had the potential to be really, really bad...nt

[Initech]

33. I agree too - that prank was dangerous, stupid and could have killed or seriously injured people.

He got off light if you ask me.

[Yo_Mama]

11. Yeah, pranks that could kill people should be punished.

You just don't understand the risks.

What he did was somewhat equivalent to throwing the emergency brake on a train as it was booking along.

I'm just pleased that a businessman got sentenced like a kid or a bum. You've got a right to get happy, but not to do things that endanger other people's lives.

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. he's a business owner, recreational vehicle dealership.

[Ikonoklast]

2. He got off lucky.

What a complete asshat, he could have killed or injured people.

[Yooperman]

3. Not the brightest thing to do ...however....

How could a civilian or passenger have access to dropping an anchor? The system for dropping an anchor should be a locked system where only someone with the proper key or code would be able to drop it.

It makes no sense to have a potentially damaging event of a drunk dropping an anchor to be able to succeed in the first place.

Not only damaging to the ship but people could be seriously hurt also.

I blame the cruise company for not taking better precautions to prevent this from happening in the first place.

MHO

YM

[Webster Green]

7. That's for sure.

Makes no sense to have that system unsecured. WTF?!

[joeybee12]

16. Well, these ships are not registered in the US...usually somewhere

in the Bahamas so I assume regulations are much more lax...that's why, if you've ever been on a cruise ship, even one originating from the US, you will see mainly foreign workers on it, because they aren't subject to this country's visa restirictions, only those for the country from which it is registered.

[i_was_there]

21. Ship's crew

Cruise line's reservation system is based out of Seattle, WA
Captain and his people are Dutch
Many of the staff are from the Phillipines

At the time we were in international waters in the Gulf of Mexico

[Webster Green]

23. Hey, you were there!

Welcome to DU!

[flamingdem]

36. Did the cruise ship lurch or otherwise do anything noticeable

when the anchor went down?

[Turbineguy]

13. This is how regulations are created.

Up until now it simply hadn't occurred to anyone that somebody would be stupid enough to do this.

[longship]

14. That's right. Blame the victim

[snooper2]

15. longship? Are you here for ship's rights?

Can a ship be a victim? LOL

[longship]

31. Heh heh heh

Good one.

Actually, I'm of Norwegian and Finnish descent, ie, a Viking.

[Flash Bazbo]

35. Yeah, the ship (i.e. the crew, passengers, owners) is the victim. n/t

[Honeycombe8]

24. Officer, I wouldn't have robbed the house, if the door had been locked! It's not my fault!

Or...

I wouldn't have raped that woman, if she hadn't been walking down a secluded street alone at night! It's not my fault!

Or...

I wouldn't have hijacked that plane, if they had barred me from carrying a gun aboard! It's not my fault!


Seriously, if someone had been hurt, that person could have sued BOTH the man who did the deed AND the cruise liner for not having the anchor secured.

Bottom line, the guy was guilty of a crime. It was not a crime for the cruise liner not to have the anchor locked against being let down by unauthorized people. Besides, there may be a good reason that the anchor isn't locked down. For instance, in an emergency, when someone doesn't have opportunity to have a key or forgets a code.

[obamanut2012]

34. I wondered that, too!

Isn't that in a secure area???

[Flash Bazbo]

39. You have to balance security with the need for emergency access.

The ability to drop the anchors is critical in ensuring the safety of a ship. To secure them so tightly that only a few of the crew have access to the controls compromises that ability should those few be incapacitated or unavailable in emergency situations; and when emergencies happen they happen fast.

I've never been on a commercial cruise ship but can't imagine the deck holding the anchor winches is normally accessible by passengers. I have participated in dropping the anchor of a large ship. The potential insurance liability of letting passengers near a couple tons of flying anchor chain as it pays out would be a shipowners nightmare. As to how this clown got access to the winches let me remind you to never underestimate the resolve of a drunken dillweed.

[SidDithers]

4. Dropping an anchor when travelling 18 knots in a 26,000 NT ship is generally a bad idea...nt

Sid

[Nolimit]

18. I'm curious

What happens if the anchor is dropped in water that is too deep? Could it tear out the part of the hull that is attached to?

[slackmaster]

19. It's not pretty

[Lochloosa]

5. I have been on the water all of my life...

'Ehlert's alleged actions could have sunk the Ryndam.'

He should be glad I wasn't sitting on the bench.

[MineralMan]

9. It should not be possible for an unauthorized person to

drop a cruise ship's anchor. What were they thinking when they designed that ship?

[Recursion]

10. "as well as throwing a life bouy overboard"

What the hell is wrong with this guy? He could have made the ship broach & founder and killed everybody.

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. Four months in jail, not prison

And good. He deserves it. Forty five years old and don't know no better than that? Here's 120 days to think about it, dickhead.

[i_was_there]

20. I was there ...

When you get on a cruise ship, airplane, train, etc., you expect people to adhere to social norms. Pulling the emergency break or dropping an anchor does not conform.

People ask why there were not security measures to protect the anchor. Because "practically" nobody in the world would drop an anchor without good reason.

We were about 70 miles from Cuba. What if he was part of a plot to disable a cruise ship and then have armed terrorists arrive in fast attack boats launched from Cuba who board the cruise liner and cause mayhem? That actually makes more sense than "I felt like dropping an anchor and throwing a life ring while stinking drunk."

I think there is more to this than we will ever know, but I'm really glad he got more than a fine. I'm also glad he didn't get 40 years in prison. The sentence fits the crime.

[cbayer]

22. He's lucky there were no serious injuries. He could have gotten a much more

severe sentence.

Jerks like this are one reason I would never take a trip on one of those big cruise ships (and about 1,000 other reasons)

[csziggy]

25. Ehlert was insanely intoxicated

Ehlert, who owns an RV dealership in California, had started drinking around 9 p.m. the night of the incident. At dinner with his fiancée, he drank three or four glasses of wine. Later in his stateroom, he drank a wine glass full of vodka, then took a bedtime prescription of the sleeping drug Ambien.

According to defense court filings, he left his room around 11 p.m. and went to the casino where another passenger at the blackjack table bought him a martini. He then bought himself four single martinis and a double. When the bar closed, he ordered three double martinis.

After the bar closed, he broke into a liquor cabinet over a closed bar area and took a two-liter bottle of Grey Goose vodka, drinking about a quarter of the bottle.

After drinking all of that, combined with the prescription, Ehlert was "intoxicated to the point where he was not functioning in a rational and coherent manner," wrote his attorney, William Mallory Kent, who describe Ehlert as a "successful, workaholic businessman on vacation, his first real vacation in years."

http://duke1.tbo.com/content/2012/mar/06/martinis---cruise-ship-anchor-4-month-sentence/news-breaking/

3-4 glasses of wine
glass of vodka
Ambien
1 martinis
4 martinis
1 double martini
3 double martinis
1/4 of a 2 liter bottle of Grey Goose vodka

How the hell was he even standing?

[WolverineDG]

26. late starter

If he didn't start drinking until 9pm. Most cruises I've been on have been full of people seemingly on 7 day benders. Some arestinking drunk before they get onboard.

[1monster]

27. How was he still breathing? That much alcohol alone would have been more than

enough to cause alcohol poisoning. Add the Ambein and a coma or death would not have been an unlikely result.

[csziggy]

30. The only thing I can think of are alcoholics that develop a tolerance

But even then, that is a ridiculous amount of booze for a human being to consume in less than twelve hours.

[Generic Brad]

28. Good thing he did not press the "Sink Ship" button instead

[JBoy]

29. Like the "Wings fall off" button?

[flamingdem]

37. LOL

I wondered what those buttons are for

[hunter]

32. He got off easy...

... if the jailhouse DTs don't kill him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delirium_tremens

As a proactive measure the court should take away his drivers license too.

This guy was lucky he didn't kill anyone. But if he doesn't get help he will, even if it's just himself.

[flamingdem]

38. I wonder how his fiance feels about this

Cold feets?

[Liberal_in_LA]

40. she's marrying a drunk. Maybe prison will sober him.

[flamingdem]

41. Good point

A wake up call. Keep the ring regardless, heh.