The Maine Marine Patrol arrested two fishermen on Thursday after they allegedly assaulted officers who were investigating the overboard drowning death of their crewmate.
[RELATED: New Mexico Kayaker’s Body Recovered by Maine Marine Patrol Near Deer Isle Bridge…]
The Marine Patrol received a distress signal over VHF radio at approximately 4:45 p.m. reporting that a man, later identified as Marshal Ames, 57, of North Haven, had fallen overboard in Hurricane Sound near Vinalhaven.
The Marine Patrol responded with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Rockland.
Before they arrived, a Good Samaritan living on Hurricane Island recovered Ames and began CPR.
The man transported Ames to shore on Dyer Island while performing CPR, but Ames was pronounced dead by Vinalhaven emergency responders.
Marine Patrol officers made contact with Geoffrey Barrett, 39, a North Haven commercial fisherman and the captain of Long Faces, the vessel Ames had been on.
An altercation erupted between Barrett and Marine Patrol officers, and Barrett was ultimately arrested and charged with assault. He was also charged with refusal to submit to a chemical test and felony-level boating under the influence following the investigation into Ames’ death.
Another member of the ship’s crew, Theodore Lane, 27, of North Haven, was also arrested and charged with assault and disorderly conduct.
Both suspects were transported to the Knox County Jail.
Ames’ body will be examined by the Office of the Maine Chief Medical Examiner, and the investigation is ongoing with assistance from the Knox District Attorney’s Office and the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit.
Keep an eye on this, there may be more to the story.
The captain of a vessel is responsible for the safety of those aboard. While there are no details here of the incident that lead to a man’s death, it seems odd that the Captain, possibly already in a difficult legal situation, would give the investigating officers cause to arrest him by assaulting them.
Gardener, he was charged with boating under the influence and it isn’t specified here as to what. Assuming the lobster wardens had grounds to arrest him for that, perhaps he might have also been under the influence of that when the responding wardens asked him what happened…
Maine has a boating OUI law, what’s interesting here is that the federal government/US Coast Guard isn’t charging him with the federal Seaman’s death law, at least not yet.
Hurricane Island is now a marine science education center for high school students, my guess — just a guess — is that their staff responded to the VHF call.
As to why it was a hurricane island vessel and not the one he fell off of that fished him out, that’s not the least of my questions here, but it’s the only one I can publicly state.