This past January, 57 people were injured when the SEASTREAK WALL STREET commuter ferry crashed into a pier in lower Manhattan. On May 17, THE SPIRIT OF AMERICA ferry lost power and crashed into several pilings while attempting to dock at the St. George Ferry Terminal. The Staten Island Advance reported that several passengers aboard the ship said there was a “brace for impact” announcement made about 30 seconds before the rough docking, and some said they heard a siren go off before impact.

West Brighton resident Don Thatcher told the Advance that passengers were told to “back up and sit down,” but he did not understand why the boat did not go into reverse propulsion to avoid the crash. Thatcher said he had a friend who was on the October 2003 MV ANDREW J. BARBERI Staten Island Ferry that hit a maintenance pier at full speed, killing 11 people and injuring 70 others. “It pisses him off,” Thatcher told the Advance, adding that perhaps, “someone was not manning the ship properly or that there was supposed to be two people upstairs and maybe there was one person and someone else was falling asleep.”

Last month, we discussed how our firm helped an injured ferry passenger who was rendered an incomplete C5-C7 tetraplegic after falling down stairs on THE CAT. Latti & Anderson LLP has been representing all types of maritime accident victims for more than 50 years, and additional information about ferry accidents can be found on our website. If you or your loved one sustained serious injuries in a maritime accident, use the form on this page to have our Boston maritime attorneys review your case or contact our firm at (800) 392-6072 to schedule a free consultation.

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Staten Island paid $140 million for three Molinari-class ferry vessels in 2005 that have since cost the city millions of dollars in repairs.

— Latti & Anderson LLP (@Latti_Anderson) May 29, 2013