Seven are injured when the 34-foot cruiser hurdles into the jetty at a relatively high speed.
By VANESSA DE LA TORRE
Published November 15, 2005
ST. PETERSBURG - Corey Crum stepped outside his Coast Guard station on Tampa Bay and noticed a navigation light about 300 yards away, cutting through the air at a fast clip.
Crum, a 29-year-old boatswain's mate, realized a boat was gliding toward the sea wall at Albert Whitted Airport.
"It looks too close, it's going to hit that jetty," he thought.
Then it did.
Inside the Coast Guard station lounge, crew members were jolted by what they thought was an explosion. The loud boom, then the screeching of fiberglass, came courtesy of an errant, 34-foot recreational vessel that slammed into a concrete extension of the sea wall, rode onto rocks and lodged itself into the corner of Bayboro Harbor and the airport.
Seven people on the boat were injured, including its owners, Ronald and Deborah Truitt of St. Petersburg, and a 4-year-old and a 14-year-old. None of the injuries was life-threatening.
Deborah Truitt, 48, Debbie Haran, 43, and Susan Berg, 45, remained in Bayfront Medical Center in stable condition Monday night. The minors, whose names were not released, were taken to All Children's Hospital. Investigators would not say whether the children were related.
Ronald Truitt could not be reached for comment.
The Truitts and their guests had been at the Pier Sunday night, enjoying Rib Fest, when they boarded Always & All Waves , a 12-ton express cruiser built in 2001, and headed south toward the Truitt home in Coquina Keys, investigators said.
Shortly after 8 p.m., the vessel was traveling at a "relatively high speed" when it smashed into the jetty, said Gary Morse, a spokesman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
"The vessel had radar, it had spotlight, it had GPS on it. It had all the tools to avoid collision," said Morse. "They shouldn't have gone into the sea wall."
Investigators found alcohol containers inside the boat, Morse said. They drew blood from some of the adult passengers, though Morse declined to say who was piloting the boat.
Crum, who has been with the Coast Guard for about four years, said he went straight into training mode.
"There's been a boat that crashed into the sea wall by the airport!" he yelled to fellow crew members.
Crum got into one of two boats that rushed to the accident, while several other crew members ran across the Coast Guard base, leaped over a 5-foot fence and then hurried past an air strip to reach the tilted vessel. Its bow was lodged on the jetty; the body was parallel to the sea wall.
Coast Guard members found all seven injured people in the boat. Their injuries included a broken shoulder, arm and leg.
"People have a tendency to relax too much when they go in the water," said Morse. "And just like when you'd be driving down a highway, that can cause you to get into trouble."
