The lawyer for the Captain of the Staten Island ferry that was involved in a fatal collision last year made the following statement yesterday:

"Under the stress of the moment, he made the mistake of attempting to deflect attention from Richard Smith's role in the accident," Morvillo said. "As captain of the vessel, Mr. Gansas believed it was important to assume responsibility."

And just how does "Captain" Michael Gansas accept said responsibility? By agreeing to a plea bargain in which he agrees to testify against the city's director of ferry operations, Patrick Ryan. As far as I know Ryan was no onboard that fateful day but it must be his fault because, in the words of Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf “Gansas was not aware of the rule because Ryan failed to disseminate or enforce it.” If Gansas was truly unaware of the rule why did he feel the need to lie about his whereabouts during the collision? Also last time I checked being ignorant to of a rule was no excuse in court. The article I read didn’t mention for how many years Gansas had been a Captain but it seems hard to believe that he could have been ignorant of this rule. I don’t know why the US Attorney would offer such a lenient deal to the person who is supposed to have the ultimate responsibility on a ship.