Investigators in New York Searching for Answers in Deadly Crash of Ferry
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Investigators in New York are searching for answers in the deadly crash of a ferry. But as CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports, the one person who may hold the answer to key questions remains in the hospital in critical condition.</s>DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mangled ferry sat draped in New York Bay. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board picking through the wreckage, trying to reconstruct moments before a crash that killed 10 people, sending dozens more to the hospital.</s>ELLEN ENGLEMAN, NTSB CHAIRWOMAN: What we do is to rule out as much as we rule in.</s>FEYERICK: Investigators are looking into the possibility that the 55-year-old man steering the ship passed out.</s>MICHAEL MCMAHON, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL: The assistant captain who as piloting the ship at the time of the accident collapsed and collapsed onto the controls, and thereby prevented the other captain from getting control of the ship before it crashed.</s>FEYERICK: The assistant captain, Richard J. Smith, is in critical condition at a Staten Island hospital.</s>COMM. RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE: It appears that the captain tried to take his own life.</s>FEYERICK: Law enforcement sources say he went home, slit his wrists and shot himself in the chest with a pellet gun. Police would not say what the distraught Smith said to his brother in a phone call after the crash. Smith has steered the ferry back and forth between Staten Island and Manhattan for 16 years. Coworkers call him safety conscious and transportation officials say he had a good record.</s>IRIS WEINSHALL, NEW YORK CITY TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE: As a matter of fact, he had two letters of commendation in his personnel file.</s>FEYERICK: Those letters praised him for the way he handled two previous mishaps on the same ship, one a propeller failure, the other a mechanical failure. Neighbors describe Smith, a grandfather, as compassionate.</s>CHERYL SYVERTSON, SMITH NEIGHBOR: He's just been a nice, nice gentleman, a nice neighbor, really, you know, friendly, quiet, worked around the house, the yard.</s>FEYERICK: And neighbors say he must have been devastated by what happened.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When he realized what had happened on the ferry boat, that he had to be totally overcome by that.</s>FEYERICK: Smith is in an intensive care unit and unable to speak. His attorney said his family offers condolences and prayers to all those who have been affected by this tragedy. The NTSB says the damaged ship will be moved to a secure location in the next few weeks. The investigation and final report will take at least a year. (on camera): Results of the alcohol tests came back negative. No results yet on the drug tests, according to law enforcement sources. New York City's mayor has asked everyone not to rush to judgment. Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Staten Island, New York.