A salmon fisherman who abandoned ship by leaping into the frigid waters of the Columbia River last summer -- an instant before another motorboat crashed into his -- has filed a $372,500 lawsuit against the other driver.
Clatsop County sheriff’s deputies accused boat driver Marlin Lee Larsen of several crimes after the 75-year-old told investigators he couldn’t see where he was driving because he was sitting down and the dash of his boat was blocking his view. Larsen said he probably should have been standing, according to the sheriff’s report, which notes Larsen uses a motorized scooter to get around on land.
Larsen’s son-in-law, who also was on the boat, told investigators that he had warned his father-in-law to pay attention, that he sometimes sees his father-in-law using his cell phone while driving the boat and that his father-in-law had been off-and-on his cell phone the morning of the crash, according to the sheriff’s report.
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Larsen, a Roseburg resident, told The Oregonian/OregonLive by phone Friday that he wasn’t using his cellphone while driving his Bayliner and referred to such allegations as
“fake news.” Larsen also said a lawsuit seemed unnecessary because the people in the Weldcraft weren’t hurt badly.
The criminal case is ongoing. Larsen has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor crimes of reckless operation of a boat, fourth-degree assault and recklessly endangering the lives of others.
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/01/chilling_video_fisherman_jumps.htmlHmmm..."fake news" huh. Gee where have we heard that term before?
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