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Editor: Rod Sullivan
Profession: Maritime Attorney

Category: Boating Accidents

It's hard to believe that it was eleven years ago that Cleveland Indian pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews were killed in a bass boat on Clermont's 125 acre Little Lake Nellie. Their accident still serves to remind us how dangerous operating a boat at night can be.

The Cleveland Indians had only one day off per week during the 1993 Spring Training season. Crews, who was from Tampa, had bought a new home 25 miles from Orlando on the small fresh water lake. He invited two of his fellow pitchers, Steve Olin from Vancouver, Washington, and Bob Ojeda from Los Angeles, and their families to join him for a relaxing day on the lake behind his house. In the early evening Crews started the 150 horsepower engine on his 18 foot boat, and decided to take one turn around the lake with Olin and Ojeda before picking up the other passengers. It was March, and it was dusk.

None of the people riding in the boat saw the wooden dock before impact. Since it was three feet above the water level, the boat passed underneath the dock and it was Olin's head which made first contact. People standing on the shoreline heard an impact and then saw the boat come to a stop in a grass bed. It wasn't until they heard Ojeda calling for help that they realized what had happened. The Florida Marine Patrol estimated their speed at 60 mph, but it is more likely that they were doing half that. It didn't matter. The accident would have been fatal even 30 at mph.

Olin, who was Cleveland's star relief pitcher, died instantly. Crews died the next morning, Ojeda survived, was traded to the Yankees, played only two games the next year, and retired.

If you have a barge or other vessel docked in a waterway, the law requires you to light it. Use approved lights. The minimum intensity is 0.9 candelas. Check to see if your light is certified by the Coast Guard or complies with UL specification. If you own a dock that projects into a waterway, light it too. The life you save will make it all worthwhile.