{"id":871,"date":"2017-05-22T01:18:39","date_gmt":"2017-05-22T05:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=871"},"modified":"2017-05-22T01:18:39","modified_gmt":"2017-05-22T05:18:39","slug":"prosecutor-investigators-probing-why-one-boat-cut-off-another-in-fatal-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2017\/05\/prosecutor-investigators-probing-why-one-boat-cut-off-another-in-fatal-accident\/","title":{"rendered":"Prosecutor: Investigators Probing Why One Boat Cut off Another in Fatal Accident"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The \u201cRepeat Offender\u201d leaves Manasquan Inlet, minutes before it was involved in a fatal accident. (Photo: Lori Centrella\/Facebook)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Ocean County Prosecutor\u2019s Office said a racing\u00a0boat carrying two crew members, one of whom died and one who is critical condition, was \u201cat fault\u201d in the fatal accident that occurred at the Point Pleasant Beach Offshore Grand Prix on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Battling large swells above four feet, the\u00a0Repeat Offender, for reasons still unknown, crossed into the path of the\u00a0Smith Brothers boat, a 26-foot Joker racing boat. The race, an early event for small boats, ended with the crash, in which Repeat Offender throttleman David Raabe, 38, of Forked River, lost his life.\u00a0James Byrne, 35, of Nutley, the navigator, sustained a critical head injury and was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where he remains unconscious and unable to speak with investigators, said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The crew members of the Smith Brothers boat, throttleman\u00a0Richard Smith, 53, of Souderton, Pa., and navigator\u00a0Peter Smith, 50, of Riverton, were ejected into the water but refused medical attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpon impact, both occupants on the Smith Brothers vessel were ejected,\u201d said Della Fave. \u201cThe vessel then sank and as of this report has not been recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though both brothers refused medical attention\u00a0they\u00a0were transported to Ocean Care Center where both consented to\u00a0providing a blood sample, said Della Fave.\u00a0Both Smith brothers also provided a taped statement at the\u00a0Point Pleasant Beach police headquarters.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor\u2019s office is the lead agency investigating the crash, along with the Ocean County Sheriff\u2019s Department CSI unit.<\/p>\n

The Repeat Offender is being stored at the U.S. Coast Guard station in Point Pleasant Beach. It is not known whether crews will attempt to raise the Smith Brothers boat from the ocean floor.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ocean County Prosecutor\u2019s Office said a racing\u00a0boat carrying two crew members, one of whom died and one who is critical condition, was \u201cat fault\u201d in the fatal accident that occurred at the Point Pleasant Beach Offshore Grand Prix on Sunday. Battling large swells above four feet, the\u00a0Repeat Offender, for reasons still unknown, crossed into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[340,11],"class_list":["post-871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-police-fire-courts","tag-boat-accident","tag-toms-river-nj-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/18595215_10155337472753236_1233961329666150488_o.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}