Darius Marshall had just finished his shift as a security guard at the United Nations when he called his bank brother, Eros, at his office in Tribeca. But Eros is busy.
Darius “descended early and stopped; I’m in a project and can’t escape. I told him I had to catch him next time,” he told The Post.
So Darius boarded the Andrew J. Barberi ferry at Whitehall Terminal in Lower Manhattan, and set off for his new home on Staten Island, where he had just moved with his wife of four months, Cindy.
Just two years earlier, Darius barely survived the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11. He was knocked unconscious by falling debris and was eventually found by his family on a hospital ferry boat in New Jersey 13 hours after the attack.
This time, Darius won’t make it.
Twenty minutes after leaving the tip of Manhattan, as the 3,335-ton, 310-foot-long Barberi approached Terminal St. George, the off-roader plowed into the maintenance pier at full speed, blasting through a 250-foot-wide hole. its starboard side and tore through the main deck where many of the 1,500 passengers, including Darius, were queuing to disembark.
At 25, Darius Marshall was the youngest of the 11 people who lost their lives that day. “He’s my little brother and my best friend,” Eros Marshall said of the Wagner College graduate.
Darius Marshall, a security guard at the United Nations, was the youngest victim. Courtesy of Eros Marshall Barberi’s 3,335-ton, 310-foot-long plow into the maintenance pier. AP Shoes seen among bodies and damage on a Staten Island Ferry in New York.REUTERS
Oct. 15 will mark the 20th anniversary of the ferry tragedy, caused when the man at the helm, Assistant Captain Richard Smith, 55, passed out at the helm after taking a strong prescription drug for back pain.
Seventy people were injured, some horribly maimed.
Doctors at a Staten Island hospital performed amputations on four people, and treated countless broken bones, crushed pelvises and life-changing trauma.
James McMillan Jr., 44, of the Bronx, lost the use of his arms and legs. Paul Esposito, 24, lost both legs above the knee.
Victims of the Staten Island Ferry crash await transfer to an ambulance. Staten Island Advance
In 2004, Esposito told The Post she still had nightmares but wanted to live a full life: “I want to have a positive attitude. I want to bring good out of a bad situation.”
Barbara A. Butcher, an investigator with the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, was assigned to the case.
“My first sight of the destruction of the ferry was heartbreaking,” he said. “A lot of personal belongings were scattered in the debris of the interior, and then human remains were seen crushed under the seats and windows.”
A report from the National Transportation Safety Board reveals systemic issues with ferry safety.REUTERS
Worse is to follow. “I remember telling a young wife that her husband was identified as one of the victims,” he said. “His screams still echo in my mind.”
Eros Marshall returned home that night in Sparta, NJ, and turned on his television — his first glimpse of what had happened.
She called Darius, but only got his voicemail.
Paul Esposito, 24, lost both legs above the knee.AP
“I knew something was wrong,” he said. “My wife and I drove to the facility set up by the Red Cross on Staten Island. It took an hour or so before they told us that he had died in the accident.
“I’m not angry, I’m devastated. I remember – how am I going to tell my mother?”
Immediately after the accident, Captain Smith fled the scene to his home on Staten Island.
After locking himself in the bathroom, he tried to slash his wrists and tried to shoot himself twice in the chest with a pellet gun.
The suicide attempt failed when his family and some colleagues kicked in the door to save him. Smith, who still lives in Staten Island, did not return messages seeking comment.
In August 2004, Smith pleaded guilty to 11 counts of manslaughter and, 17 months later, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Barbara A. Butcher, an investigator with the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, was assigned to the case. Assistant Captain Helayne Seidman Richard Smith passed out at the helm of the ferry after taking prescription medication for back pain.REUTERS Michael Gansas, who was supposed to be in the pilot house with Smith, avoided prosecution but was fired by the city Department of Transportation.REUTERS
In Brooklyn federal court, he said he will “regret for the rest of my life that I didn’t call in sick.”
Patrick Ryan, the ferry’s director of operations, also pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter and making false statements to investigators.
He admitted he failed to enforce regulations requiring two qualified pilots to be in the wheelhouse at all times. He was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. He could not be reached for comment.
The ship’s captain, Michael Gansas, who was supposed to be in the pilot house with Smith, avoided prosecution but was fired by the city Department of Transportation for refusing to cooperate with investigators.
Now 58 years old, Gansas lives in Hazlet NJ. He did not return messages seeking comment.
A scathing report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed systemic issues with ferry safety, and criticized the DOT for its failure to “implement and oversee safe and effective operating procedures.”
It also cited “the captain’s failure to exercise his command responsibility over the ship by ensuring the safety of its operations.”
The NTSB report recommended a litany of reforms for the DOT, the US Coast Guard, the Passenger Ship Association. RELATED PRESS One of the injured was put into an FDNY ambulance at the terminal. Staten Island Advance One victim was transported from the ferry scene. Staten Island Advance
Coast Guard safety recommendations dating back to 1998 were also ignored, investigators found.
A series of civil suits have been filed against the city, which paid more than $90 million in settlements to victims and their families. McMillan received $18.3 million and Esposito was awarded $8.9 million.
The NTSB report recommended a series of reforms for the DOT, the US Coast Guard, the Passenger Ship Association and states that operate public ferries, particularly regarding stricter oversight of the medical certification of licensed pilots and the implementation of safety management programs.
The damaged pier required $1.4 million in repairs, and Barberi itself required $7 million in repairs.
Angela Paguay, left, is helped by her son Angel as they pass a bronze plaque honoring those who died, like her son, Guillermo Paguay.AP
When she was relaunched in June 2004, a memorial plaque honoring the victims was installed on her deck. But it was not the last time the ill-fated vessel was involved in a major accident.
On May 8, 2010, a faulty valve that prevented the propeller from stopping caused the boat to crash into the dock at Terminal St. George again, resulting in 40 passengers being hospitalized with minor injuries.
For Butcher, who chronicled his investigation in “What The Dead Know: Learning About Life As A New York City Death Investigator,” the scale of the Staten Island ferry disaster may not be the same as others he’s worked on, such as 9/11 and the 2004 tsunami in East Asia , but no less important.
The Andrew J. Barberi Ferry crosses New York Harbor on June 3, 2015.Chad Rachman/New York Post Just two years earlier, Marshall narrowly escaped the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11. Courtesy of Eros Marshall
“Although the crash on the Staten Island Ferry was a smaller incident, it is important to every family that their loved ones are found and identified,” he said. “The pain is the same for each of us who lost a loved one in a tragedy.”
For Eros Marshall, 47, and his family, there is no bitterness, although the pain remains.
“We are not an angry family and it is good to know that NYC has made changes to ferry operations to minimize the possibility of similar accidents in the future,” he said. But “my family is still struggling with the loss all these years later and I don’t think we’ll ever get over it. “We miss Darius every day.”
Andrew J. Barberi, who operated for 42 years, retired on September 28, just three weeks before the 20th anniversary of his worst tragedy. Like all retired ferry boats, it will be sold at auction, the city said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
