Hit-And-Run Boater Who Crashed Into Midway Aircraft Carrier Arrested For Boating Under The Influence
The USS Midway aircraft carrier was commissioned in 1945 and never saw action in World War II, but it did get around during its nearly 50 years of operation on the high seas. Perhaps the vessel's crowning achievement was to serve as a naval flagship during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Following that conflict, the legendary flat top was decommissioned and parked in San Diego Harbor, where it now serves as a museum.
The Midway's dignified retirement was recently interrupted when a 65-foot motor boat banged into the warship. According to the San Diego Harbor Police, the boat's pilot was intoxicated. To make matters worse, the guy and his alleged 0.08-plus blood-alcohol content fled the scene. Yes, this was an aquatic hit-and-run, with the hit part captured on video. The boat – "Offshore Lifestyle," a terrible name – was impounded and its owner charged with drunk boating, the Port of San Diego said in a press release. If you watch the video, the large power boat does look as though it's being recklessly piloted. And of course the Midway is big and hard to miss.
But what's most entertaining about this incident – and thankfully there were no injuries – is that it took place at 11:54 a.m. local time. Raising the obvious question: How much drinking do you have to do before noon to crash your boat into a 64,000-ton aircraft carrier?
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A blood-alcohol content of 0.08 is the threshold for a DUI charge, and according to the San Diego authorities, the boat's pilot – identified as 40-year old Frank D'Anna – had crossed over it. Needless to say, he was arrested. His weight wasn't given, but evidently for a 180-lb. male, about four beers would get you to the legal limit. For a dude over 200 pounds, it might be five brewskis.
So let's review: a grown man might have drank the equivalent of several beers before noon, then allegedly drove his presumably very expensive power boat into a beloved floating artifact whose name commemorates one of the nation's greatest naval victories of the 20th century. This is usually the sort of thing that gets captured in video these days, but heedless of that, the allegedly intoxicated boater then drove his vessel away from the scene of the crime. Not sure what the game was going to be after that. Sober up and make a run for open water?
Apparently not, as the harbor cops found the boat a little later, questioned everybody onboard, tracked down the pilot, and "booked him into county jail for 655(B) Harbor and Navigation Code Boating Under the Influence (BUI), 656.1 Harbors and Navigation Code Hit and Run," and for the aforementioned blood-alcohol reading.
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I've never understood why anybody drinks on a pleasure craft, if they're technically the captain and have to steer the thing and attend to passenger safety. If I'm being honest, I think the passengers should also teetotal, as getting drunk and falling into the ocean has always struck me as supremely risky business. The San Diego incident also highlights what you're up against if you drink and boat in a crowded metropolitan harbor. Our alleged hit-and-run boater was perhaps fortunate that he collided with one of the more enormous and durable vessels in the area, as opposed to taking out a smaller boat.
Let's hope everyone learns a valuable lesson. Booze and boats don't mix! If you do drink and boat, when you crash into a gigantic floating museum, switch the engines off and accept your fate. Remember, you passengers and crew are all involved in the same hit-and-run, and when the cops show up, they are going to turn you in.
Finally, "Offshore Lifestyle?" Great opportunity to change the now-disgraced name.
