I own an identical Boston whaler with a new 50 hp Merc. This boat will barely maintain a planed position but likely not 20 mph with five adults.
What size is the engine on this particular boat?

As to the damage on the Whaler I'm not surprised. These boats have a very thin fiberglass skin and a solid foam core. Given the mass and the speed of what ever boat impacted on the Whaler, and if one was to assume that it is the bow of another boat that struck the Boston whaler, that portion of the impacting boat will be stronger.

Was the person killed the driver of the Boston Whaler? There are two benches in a 15 Sport and a platform anchor well seat in this Whaler. One would presume that the woman who was facing backward was sitting forward, and a side on impact would have injured her severely. This makes me question what the angle of impact was? Maybe this was a close head on and the Boston Whaler went under the starboard side of the Imperial? In this scenario the Whaler side just folded in and one can visualize the scars on the Imperial....

I had a very close call a few years back at night in my Donzi , cruising under a full moon at 30 mph when we encountered a much larger Formula Fasttech. The Formula was going very slow, bow way higher than on plane and his forward running lights were invisible from my low angle. This close call made me relocate my Magnum 27 bow lights from the original position beside the cockpit to the very tip of the deck.

The best that can come from this is that we all learn from it, be safe and cautious, especially at night.

Mario L.

Sad story for sure. It's obvious that mistakes were made. Question. Was mr posts blood alcohol level ever tested? And where would we be if mr Digillio had never called in??? It would be fair then to give him the title of scumbag. But that was not the case. This was a terrible accident with both parties making wrong decisions

Folks I have a feeling that we are in for a surprise this week

Here you go...http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/2645585-post69.html

i wonder if they searched his and her cell phone records for phone calls that we hour on the morning..you know panic call?

Many years ago a friend of friend purposely ran over a sheriff boat chasing him. Killing two officers. He is still in prison but the boat was sold at auction with little damage (few chips in strakes and a few scratches)

Just a few years ago a couple guys my buddy knew left a bar each in their own boats. They were close friends and had passengers. For whatever reason they got separated and when the one guy stopped to pizz of the platform his buddy ran right over him killing him. Again very little to no damage aside from scratches on one boat, the other totalled.

Just last year a friend of mine took his wife and dog out to see the fireworks. Ran about a mile out from his marina and threw anchor in his 20' Searay. An hour or so later and WHAM! Run over by another boat killing the dog, injuring his wife and putting my buddy in a coma for a few weeks. Once again the boat hit was totalled yet the other boat had almost no damage.

Another friend of mine works at the marina the boats in the last two stories were taken to and I saw them. The boats hit were wasted yet the boats that hit them had little to no hull damage and zero damage to skeg, props, tabs etc.

Looking at the pics of the Whaler and IMP, if hit on the stbd side by the IMP stbd side the damage to both matches and is plausible IMO. If I was an investigator or the prosecutor there would be no doubt in my mind these boats collided.

Thank you !

This clears up some rumors of the boat immediately being put on a trailer in the darkness of night and hidden inside a garage right after the accident.

Apparently according to this article the boat was put on the lift that most likely was the one on the Metedeconk River in full view of the accident scene if it was broad daylight. The lift would be on the opposite side of the Metedeconk approximately 1 mile away.

That would make more sense if he felt the boat was sinking and he knew he had a lift to go to near by.

This story gives a street that confirms with the story a person told me this week. An earlier story years ago I was told the boat was picked up in the Baywood section of Brick.

According to this story, the boat being put on the trailer the next day and assessed the damage, then they called the authorities.

Not sure where all the speculation came from that he hid the boat ???

Even that night it sat on a lift right under the area the helicopters with search lights were searching ...

Should be an interesting week of testimony ...

"http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs...TES01/80805008

The man authorities believe could have been at the helm of the speedboat when it collided with a 17-foot Boston Whaler on the Metedeconk River about 1 a.m. Sunday met with an attorney Monday to help them with their case. One man was killed and four were injured in the accident.


“I don’t know that it was his boat that hit the Whaler,” said attorney William Cunningham who is representing Anthony Digilio, 29, of Brick. State Police and members of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office had forensic experts working Monday to determine if Digilio's Imperial speedboat was responsible for the damage that caused the death and injuries. The Digilio family has been fully cooperating with authorities since they realized they had a possible connection to the tragedy, Cunningham said.

Anthony Digilio told Cunningham he ran over something on his way home on the Metedeconk River and had noticed that the mid shift bilge was on and he assumed he was taking on water.

Digilio thought he had hit a log, Cunningham said today. Digilio and his girlfriend never saw or heard anything while they were traveling on the river when they hit something they believed was a log, Cunningham said.

Anytime, especially at 1 o’clock in the morning, that the bilge pump activates itself , the safest response is to get the boat out of the water “Or you are swimming,’’ Cunningham said.

Digilio and his girlfriend Krista Behrend of Brick, had been out for a ride on the ocean late Sunday and were heading back to moor the boat at a relative’s home on the Metedeconk River. They planned to place the boat on the relative's lift. In the morning, Anthony Digilio and his father, Joseph, of Brick took the boat home to see the damage, Cunningham said.

Digilio found out that his boat may have been involved in the fatal collision after his girlfriend received a text message from a friend asking if they were OK because there was a boat accident on the news and they were asking if they got home all right, Cunningham said.

They inferred that the news was reporting the accident happened about the same time and place that they believed they hit a log, Cunningham said.

Digilio contacted the attorney, who called the Point Pleasant Police, was directed to Brick Police then finally to State Police Marine division, Cunningham said.

“I don’t think drinking was a part of this,’’ Cunningham said.

The Digilios were absolutely distraught over the idea that they may have caused harm to the family, Cunningham said.

“They were in my office for over three hours Monday and were so upset,’’ Cunningham said. “Not for themselves but for the prospect that they may have injured someone. The family had no idea what they could or should do for the victims, it was obvious that the victims were good people and well respected in the community.”

Cunningham said that the Digilios immediately called authorities and said to come and get the boat, after seeing the damage once it was removed from lift and placed on the trailer and taken to the garage in Brick. The boat was taken to the Digilio home on Frank Neri Drive in Brick and that was when they called Cunningham and authorities to come get the boat.

The Digilio family wants to cooperate fully with the law-enforcement investigation, Cunningham said.

Cunningham, who is a private practice attorney and retired member of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, was instrumental in gaining a conviction in the case of Barry Flowers, whose yacht ran over a smaller boat killing three fishermen and maiming a third in 2000."

mor detail hear: http://starnewsgroup.com/weekly/2013...tml?featured=*

On a side note: is his boat an IMP or an Imperial? I never heard of Imperial building a "speed boat". I saw it was pulled from an old mold or something. Just curious.

Well this answers the VIDEO CAMERAS' footage from the night of the accident:

"In the days following the accident, Officer Reader checked three nearby bridges for surveillance video, but none had any recordings, only a live feed. Video footage from the Coast Guard also did not help, as it had bad angles, he said."

Wonder why they would only looked for those four ?
There are cameras at the State Police Barracks (located on the Point Pleasant Canal) in which the Imperial had to drive by to get to the scene of the accident . The Imperial also had to go under the Route 88 Bridge, the Route 35 Bridge, and also pass the RXR Bridge.

Out of all these cameras the Imperial past, there no recordings on any of them that can show whether or not the Imperial had its lights on ?

The only video they have is from a private business where it shows the boat arriving at the Wharfside??? They assume he was at that location the entire time . I am not sure that was the case, but I am sure more will be coming out soon.

I am sure Homeland Security is thrilled to find out all these cameras are not recording the areas they are to be covering.

But hey !!!

The Asbury Park Press was able to get the Photographs from those cameras on the Mantoloking Bridge from the night of Hurricane Sandy to show the debris from the storm floating under the bridge ! There's money well spent !

The boat was an IMPERIAL that was a project boat that was restored and perhaps even had a custom deck made for it .

One of the reasons the HIN wasn't readable I believe because it was re-gelcoated or painted.