Federal forensic investigators were able to locate and recover Thursday the sunken dinghy operated by a Water Island man when struck by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection boat Saturday night, according to officials speaking on condition of anonymity.
Divers spent the majority of Thursday searching the waters around the narrow cut between Hassel Island and St. Thomas, where the collision took place around 7:30 Saturday night as people on small boats were awaiting the Carnival finale fireworks.
The horrific crash killed Shawn Leass, a longtime resident of Water Island.
An official speaking on condition of anonymity because they didn’t have permission to speak to the press said federal investigators were taking the incident very seriously, working methodically in their investigation.
The U.S. Coast Guard advised against boaters traversing the area while divers worked, but did not immediately reply to requests for comment Thursday evening. Representatives of U.S. Customs and Border Protection said they were unaware of the boating restriction for the recovery effort.
Court records in an unrelated drug trafficking case named the Customs and Border Protection pilot of the 41-foot Coastal Marine Interceptor vessel that collided with Leass’ dinghy as Brandon Martin. Attorneys in the drug case asked a federal judge to put Martin’s inclusion on hold while the fatal crash was investigated.
As many as four people claim to have witnessed the crash that killed Leass, but, as yet, none have been willing to speak on the record. While many questions remain unanswered, witnesses told the Source anonymously that the Customs boat sped into the no-wake zone and ran over Leass’ small, slow-moving dinghy.
