Request Expert

Expert retired as a U.S. Coast Guard Commander. His last tour of duty was as Chief of the Boating Safety Division, Second Coast Guard District. As such, he was responsible for overseeing federal boating safety efforts in education, engineering and law enforcement in the mid United States.

Expert also completed his Ph.D. in education during this period with his dissertation focusing on improving all phases of aquatic safety including boating and swimming activities, through research, including accident investigation, and behavioral ploys based on analysis to modify the behavior of potential aquatic accident participants. He was one of a small number of Coast Guard personnel who initiated nationwide improvements in aquatic safety, resulting in an approximate reduction of water fatalities by 50% since 1980.

During his active service, Expert was responsible for investigating boating accidents as well as determining culpability for infractions of federal boating laws. After retiring, Expert toured North America providing boat and water safety seminars for thousands of fire, police, EMS, nursing, park ranger, lifeguarding and related personnel. His work as an author and lecturer in this field received international recognition.

During the last 35+ years, Expert has concentrated on providing expert witness support in aquatic litigation. His academic background in studying the causes of water related accidents as well as methodology needed to reduce accident potentials has aided his investigation, reconstruction and analysis of causes underlying mishaps occurring to boaters, swimmers, water skiiers, tubers, rafters, etc. This expertise has extended to pool and beach settings including lifeguard/supervision factors as well as swift water/dam situations. Of primary interest in his research have been how, why, where and when humans die in the water; the effects of ethanol and drugs on swimmers and boaters; hypothermia and cold related debilitation; plus, proper use and testing of protective flotation devices.

Expert has also served as an expert in Jones act cases and in litigation involving swift water rafting. In his expert work relating to cervical spine injuries, he has examined pool construction and applicable standards as well as the maintenance of water clarity and sanitation in pools and spas. His experience in boating cases has involved all forms of recreational vessels including sailboards and surf boards employed by beach lifeguards. Many of his cases have centered on personal watercraft. He has also been involved with offshore and Great Lakes shipping cases. He has constructed models for court room presentation ranging from the hold of a container ship to an interacting display of a high-speed collision of a runabout with a moored river barge.

He has worked with approximately 500 law firms as an expert in plantiff or defense litigation. His expert witness work began in 1981. He has provided expert testimony/assistance in every aspect of drowning and boating cases save SCUBA. His cases have ranges from seamen falling in the hold of a container ship to a diver killed in a hydroelectric dam turbine inspection mishap.He toured North America as a USCG point man/presenter involved with teaching both the public and law enforcement personnel about the dangers of drinking and boating under the influence. Conversely, he has also been engaged in a number of defense cases regarding impaired operators caught up in a "rush to judgment" by overly zealous police officers and prosecuters. Most of these cases have been resolved for the defense.He has served as an expert in cases involving low head dams, frequently called "drowning machines" as well as litigation for plaintiffs in white water rafting and canoeing mishaps. He has also testified regarding the proper use and limitations of personal flotation devices in inland and off shore waters.He has investigated and reconstructed a large number of boating accidents, building models to illustrate the forces involved for jury edification. Much of this testimony has encompassed the effects of ethanol and environmental factors, such as "boater's hypnosis" on boat operators. He has also worked in cases involving death through hypothermia. Personal watercraft accidents, maritime rules of the road and reguirements of federal marine laws have been frequent mainstays of his litigation services. Similarly he has testified in Jones Act case on inland rivers, the Great Lakes and at sea.He has testified regarding supervised and unsupervised swimming pool incidents, in public, motel/hotel and home pools and spas. These cases involved lifeguarding, parental supervision, the following of national and state pool regulations/guidelines, American Red Cross/YMCA/scouting safety certification.