EXCLUSIVE: First Mate's Attorney Speaks

PHILADELPHIA - Do not expect to see any duck boats out in the Delaware any time soon. The Coast Guard is not even close to making a decision as to whether or not those boats will go back into the water.

That decision will likely be made after the NTSB wraps up the investigation.

One of the men at the center of that investigation is pleading the 5th. The attorney for that mate spoke exclusively to Fox 29’s Dave Schratwieser.

Attorney Frank DeSimone cannot say when or his client will speak with investigators because this case could potentially turn into a criminal case, most likely at the Federal level, although the US attorney’s office has made no decision because the NTSB is still investigating.

Desimone’s client was the mate that was operating the tugboat that was pushing the barge that struck the duck boat.

Desimone said he told his client to take the 5th. He explains, “We’ve had dialogue back and forth and ultimately he may speak to them, but at this time it’s not in his best interest to speak to them so I thought that we would wait awhile and I still have dialogue with the NTSB and I must compliment them from the people I have spoken to here and the attorney in Washington, DC.

Desimone went on to add, “Two young people died here. My client feels terrible, obviously, he’s a father. We have his happening. It’s a nightmare for all of us. Children died. It’s not the natural order. I think about them all the time, these parents back in Hungary, how hard it must be for them.”

Dave spoke to the Coast Guard and several lawyers who said that despite initial reports that there should have been a look out posted on top of the barge that day, such a lookout is not a requirement if the tugboat operator had a 360 degree view of the river from the top pilot hours on the tugboat.

Dave was told that he did have such a view.

So, was there a distraction? The NTSB will have to determine that.

When asked if he expects any criminal charges filed against his client, Desimone said that it is a possibility. He went on to add, “You never know what is going to happen. Don’t forget, I was in the Pier 34 case and you just never know what’s going to happen so I have to make sure my client’s interests are protected though we are sympathetic to the people who were killed and injured in the case my client also has his rights that I have to protect.”

Desimone tells Dave a decision on whether his client talks could be a few weeks away.