A federal grand jury has charged boat captain Kyle Coleman in a 2011 incident in which a woman was killed and her daughter injured during a parasailing accident, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Coleman, 32, was arrested Wednesday and made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ruth Miller in District Court. He was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond. Coleman is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 14, and if convicted could face as much as 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, according to the statement from U.S. Attorney Ronald W. Sharpe and Jonathan Sall, special agent-in-charge of the Coast Guard South East Region Criminal Investigation Services.
The one-count indictment charges that Coleman was the captain of the motor vessel Turtle, which was conducting parasailing excursions just south of Water Island on Nov. 15, 2011, when a passenger, Bernice G. Kraftcheck, was killed.
According to the indictment, Kraftcheck and her daughter, Danielle Haese, were hoisted into the air for the parasail ride as wind conditions were deteriorating. The strong winds and a weak tow-line caused the tow-line to break, resulting in the parasail separating from the vessel and the two women falling into the water. The wind then propelled the parasail, with the women still attached, at a very high rate of speed, causing the death of Kraftcheck and serious injuries to Haese.
“After the tragic event last November, Coast Guard marine casualty investigators and special agents from San Juan and our Marine Safety Detachment in St Thomas aggressively investigated this matter leading to Wednesday’s arrest of the defendant and the surrender of his merchant mariners license in June,” said Coast Guard Capt. Drew W. Pearson of Sector San Juan.
“The Coast Guard takes safety at sea very seriously and will ensure that any mariner who causes another’s death through misconduct, negligence and inattention to his duties is held accountable in a court of law,” Pearson said.
An indictment is a formal charging document brought by a grand jury and is not evidence of guilt, Sharp’s office noted.
"The defendant is presumed innocent until the United States proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he is guilty," according to the statement from Sharp’s office.
The case is being investigated by the United States Coast Guard and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Everard E. Potter.
