Rob Murphy's Day in Court
- Thread starter The Chairman
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Tricia
Contributor
In one of the news articles, the doc's lawyer said that the doc didn't think he hit anything except maybe a turtle (what an a-hole), so he kept going.
OK, so let's say that's true and he thought he "just hit a turtle" (a criminal offense in my book): then why did he call his lawyer before he ever got to the dock?
I hope the state medical board throws the book at him. And I hope Rob insists on a jury for the civil suit.
Folks, this ain't over yet!
OK, so let's say that's true and he thought he "just hit a turtle" (a criminal offense in my book): then why did he call his lawyer before he ever got to the dock?
I hope the state medical board throws the book at him. And I hope Rob insists on a jury for the civil suit.
Folks, this ain't over yet!
I am shocked at how small a punishment he may get, even if he only broke the speed law , it resulted in the loss of limb, If that took place on the street in a car, It has a bigger punishment, and I don't see any difference in the crime here.
Just My thoughts....
Just My thoughts....
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The doctor's witnesses said that he was on autopilot until they got close to the Dykoke. Once the wheel is turned, autopilot goes off. So this guy is plowing towards the Dykoke at 25 knots on autopilot for whatever reason and when Mike tried to put his boat between the MP and the divers, the MP made a strong right, sped up, and hit Rob. I, personally, believe that yes, he was on autopilot until he realized that he was on a collision course with the Dykoke. That's pretty much what showed on his GPS tracks, too.
And yes, Rob Rocks!
Can't have it both ways:
Nicosia said he didnt see a dive flag on the Dykoke until the moment he impacted Murphy,
Did you ever see the two divers who surfaced? his attorney Bob Watson asked.
After the impact, I looked back at the wake and saw nothing, he said. At first I thought I hit a turtle, except (passenger) Ted (Shemella) yelled dive flag, but I didnt see any divers.
He looked back at his wake again, he said, and saw Murphy and diver Barry Blackwell.
He knew he struck the divers, yet failed to render assistance.
I guess there are different people in this world.
I was hit by a boat once. I descended after the hit because I was so shook up. Waited a long time to surface. My buddy and I just suffered a few aches from the hit (prop missed us but hull hit my bubby's tank). When we did surface, we found the boat that struck us dutifully waiting above our bubbles. He picked us up and took us to my boat. The guy on my boat did not see the accident.
Then a couple weeks ago mksmith713 posts this in an unrelated thread:
Dude.....are you psychic?
Sat morning... 7:30ish....I entered the water a good 300 yards south of the boats who were gathering bait.
I swam out past them about 100-150 yards, drifted towards the rockpile with my face in the water looking for the debris(one of the few dives I use a snorkel).
Vis was about 30-35 feet....I was just able to make out a shadow of the rockpile in the distance when I hear a rumbling noise.
I look up just in time to see a 24'-26' barreling down on me.....this guy was running wide open.
I had just enough time to spin my body and tuck my legs tight so my tank was towards the boat that hit me.
I bounced hard off the hull and spun like a top and instinctively I grabbed the tow line for my dive flag (mistake...line on cave reels is strong stuff).
The line got wrapped on his prop and gave a pull that tore through my gloves and nearly severed my pinky finger.
The guy stopped hard and to be honest, he was more shook up than I was.
He was heading directly into the sun that was low on the horizon and didn't see the flag from the glare off the water.
It took about 5 minutes to let my line unfouled from his prop.
Again, this guy was shaking badly he was so upset. He told me he was a diver too and was profoundly sorry that he didn't see my flag.
I guess I must've been in shock myself because I didn't even notice the blood pouring from my hand (black dive gloves). I didn't notice my hand was injured until the swim back in.
After he got unhooked from me, he checked to make sure I was OK.... (I was alive so that's about as OK as I needed to be)
I made sure he was OK and wished him a good day fishing.
I'm sure this incident totally ruined his day.
Another boat in the area who saw what happened came flying over...I gave him the OK sign which he accepted and moved on.
The thing that really bummed me was by the time all was said and done, I drifted past the drop zone and missed the rockpile completely.
The current took me well past where I wanted to be.
Maybe next time.
Note to everyone........Wait until after the sun is high in the sky before diving here......
I was hit by a boat once. I descended after the hit because I was so shook up. Waited a long time to surface. My buddy and I just suffered a few aches from the hit (prop missed us but hull hit my bubby's tank). When we did surface, we found the boat that struck us dutifully waiting above our bubbles. He picked us up and took us to my boat. The guy on my boat did not see the accident.
Then a couple weeks ago mksmith713 posts this in an unrelated thread:
Dude.....are you psychic?
Sat morning... 7:30ish....I entered the water a good 300 yards south of the boats who were gathering bait.
I swam out past them about 100-150 yards, drifted towards the rockpile with my face in the water looking for the debris(one of the few dives I use a snorkel).
Vis was about 30-35 feet....I was just able to make out a shadow of the rockpile in the distance when I hear a rumbling noise.
I look up just in time to see a 24'-26' barreling down on me.....this guy was running wide open.
I had just enough time to spin my body and tuck my legs tight so my tank was towards the boat that hit me.
I bounced hard off the hull and spun like a top and instinctively I grabbed the tow line for my dive flag (mistake...line on cave reels is strong stuff).
The line got wrapped on his prop and gave a pull that tore through my gloves and nearly severed my pinky finger.
The guy stopped hard and to be honest, he was more shook up than I was.
He was heading directly into the sun that was low on the horizon and didn't see the flag from the glare off the water.
It took about 5 minutes to let my line unfouled from his prop.
Again, this guy was shaking badly he was so upset. He told me he was a diver too and was profoundly sorry that he didn't see my flag.
I guess I must've been in shock myself because I didn't even notice the blood pouring from my hand (black dive gloves). I didn't notice my hand was injured until the swim back in.
After he got unhooked from me, he checked to make sure I was OK.... (I was alive so that's about as OK as I needed to be)
I made sure he was OK and wished him a good day fishing.
I'm sure this incident totally ruined his day.
Another boat in the area who saw what happened came flying over...I gave him the OK sign which he accepted and moved on.
The thing that really bummed me was by the time all was said and done, I drifted past the drop zone and missed the rockpile completely.
The current took me well past where I wanted to be.
Maybe next time.
Note to everyone........Wait until after the sun is high in the sky before diving here......
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AND he erased his GPS tracks and waypoints AND had his lawyer waiting for him at the dock.
Thanks for the story about your close call. I'm so glad to hear that your 'hit' had a happy ending and a sympathic boat driver. It takes all kinds to make a world. I just don't want to run into the kind like the scumbag doctor - or have his like run into me!
That makes it sound like, but for the actions of the Dykoke, Rob would not have been hit. I wonder what that will mean to the civil suit when it comes?
The guy who took off, destroyed potential evidence, and had his lawyer waiting for him is clearly in the wrong and needs to pay for it. Last I heard, running on auto-pilot doesn't remove the responsibility to navigate safely. I'm not sure how being on auto-pilot even factors into the case as a meaningful item.
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It has to do with Maritime Navigational Rule 4 - Maintaining a watch. The guy was on auto-pilot and not watching where he was going. You are correct, auto-pilot does NOT remove responsibility to navigate safely.
And yes, if Mike hadn't tried to protect the divers, they probably wouldn't have gotten hit. However, when you see a big 36 foot sport fisher heading in your direction at 25 knots, you do what you can to try to protect your divers. If the MP hadn't turned, it would have plowed into the Dykoke instead of the divers.
I read in a news article (can't always believe what you read, though) that Mike (Dykoke's captain) is also being sued by Rob along with the doctor in the civil case.
And yes, if Mike hadn't tried to protect the divers, they probably wouldn't have gotten hit. However, when you see a big 36 foot sport fisher heading in your direction at 25 knots, you do what you can to try to protect your divers. If the MP hadn't turned, it would have plowed into the Dykoke instead of the divers.
I read in a news article (can't always believe what you read, though) that Mike (Dykoke's captain) is also being sued by Rob along with the doctor in the civil case.
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We were diving on Baracuda today, north of San Miguel and outside of the Cozumel Marine park - hearing very loud motors passing over us. Intimidating to be sure. We stayed together and one diver sent up a sausage on his spool well in advance of our ascent - and we watched as boat speed right by it, close enough the reel holder turned lose just in case. :shocked2:
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