NEWS

In fatal OC pontoon incident, charges filed against owner

Deborah Gates
dgates@dmg.gannett.com
Natural Resources Police

The owner of a resort pontoon rental company was charged this week with criminal negligence and related offenses after a child fell to his death last summer from a rented vessel near Ocean City.

A preliminary hearing is set Feb. 17 in Worcester County District Court for Tyler Barnes, who is accused of renting a vessel to a group that exceeded capacity and that lacked proper equipment, an investigation by Maryland Natural Resources Police has concluded, said agency spokeswoman Candy Thomson.

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A criminal summons was issued for Barnes on Tuesday, Jan. 17, after a Worcester District Court commissioner found probable cause to charge him with negligent operation of a vessel, two counts of failing to have required safety equipment on board, renting a boat that lacked proper equipment and failure to keep records, Thomson said.

If Barnes pleads guilty before the preliminary hearing, he would pay a cumulative fine of $640, the pre-payable maximum by statute. The charges are not be punishable by jail time, the spokeswoman said.

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Barnes, 33, owns Ocean City Watersports LLC, which operates Under The Bridge Watersports from where the boy's New Jersey family rented a pontoon in August, 2016. The 9-year-old victim, identified as Kaden Frederick, of Howell, New Jersey, fell from the pontoon into Sinepuxent Bay and was struck multiple times by the vessel's propeller.

The child was one of two people on the boat not wearing a life jacket, and among four passengers who were dangling their feet in the water from the side of the boat when the accident happened, Thomson said.

"There were not enough life jackets for the number of people on board," Thomson said. "There were 15 life jackets and 17 people. The boy did not wear a jacket."

What's more, Barnes "allowed a defective and under-equipped vessel to leave the dock," Thomson said. Rental vessels are required to display a capacity plate that informs operators of the maximum number of people or weight allowed on board, she said. It was unclear whether a capacity plate was posted on the boat involved in the accident.

Bow riding is against the law in Maryland, the spokeswoman also said. The boy fell from the deck into the water and between two pontoons that make up the vessel, the operator was unable to stop the boat, causing the propeller to strike him, Thomson said.

"You are not allowed to ride with your legs dangling for this very reason," she said.

The investigation into the incident was extensive and over several months, and involved interviews with a dozen or more witnesses, Thomson said.

Equipment safety on rental boats is a NRP priority, said Thomson, recalling a serious incident two years ago during a joint NRP and Coast Guard safety check in Maryland waters. "One was leaking water," she said. "In that case, we took them off the water."

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