So Much for a Captain Taking Responsibility for His Ship

From CNN:

The captain of the Staten Island Ferry that crashed into a maintenance pier in October, killing 11 people and injuring more than 70 others, will avoid prosecution in an unusual cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors.

Michael Gansas, 39, pleaded not guilty to the charge that he lied to investigators during his arraignment Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn.

This was a horrendous and unnecessary crash. The captain failed to be where he was supposed to be at the time of the docking.

But in a move straight out of the Bush Administration "the leader is never at fault" handbook, the captain walks away with 200 hours of community service. And walk away is a LOT more than many of the victims of that crash did.