A passenger who was thrown overboard says he was racing when his boat slammed through five docks.
By JAMIE THOMPSON
Published July 31, 2005
It began as a leisurely cruise on a cool, clear evening after the Super Bowl.
About a dozen people - a bartender, a nurse, a waitress and a model for the Home Shopping Network - drank beer and talked as they rode in a 28-foot boat from one bar to another off St. Pete Beach.
At the helm was Pinellas sheriff's Cpl. Paul Brock.
He told investigators he had six to 10 drinks during the day, including two bottles of Michelob Ultra at his last stop. Then, he steered north in the Intracoastal Waterway after midnight.
What happened next, he told investigators, was an unfortunate accident.
Brock said he was traveling 5 to 7 mph in his yellow Baja sport fisherman when he approached a curve in Boca Ciega Bay. Then, the weight of his 12 passengers shifted. The throttle suddenly moved forward and tilted the boat, causing him to fall down, Brock said.
The boat shot forward in the dark, speeding up to 25 mph. Before Brock could regain control, the boat slammed through five wooden docks in a violent collision that ripped off the center console and tossed two people overboard. The crash was so loud as many as 32 people called 911.
Brock, 42, pleaded no contest to boating under the influence in March.
But the case is now the subject of a civil lawsuit, with a 60-year-old woman who was a passenger on the boat offering a different account of the incident. She says Brock was racing another boat.
Gayle Malogrides of St. Petersburg wants Brock to pay her medical bills for two broken ribs and ruptured breast implants.
"He has only received a slap on the hand," Malogrides said. "It could have been so tragic."
* * *
The circumstances surrounding the Feb. 7 crash have been somewhat difficult to discern. The passengers on board, at least 12, were not the most cooperative group.
Some tossed beer bottles into the water before officers arrived, according to witnesses. Others tried to leave the scene, causing investigators to call a local taxi company and request they not give anyone a ride.
While most passengers gave written statements after the crash, none spoke with sheriff's investigators who later conducted their own internal inquiry into Brock's conduct.
By that point, Malogrides already had hired St. Petersburg attorney Michael Allweiss.
During a recent interview at his office, Malogrides offered her version of what happened that evening.
It all began, she said, about 10:30 p.m. when she and her boyfriend, Peter Solitro, 37, stopped off at Ferg's Beach Shack & Grill. They walked over to a friend who was drinking with a group of people that included Brock, Malogrides said. Before long, about a dozen people decided to go for a ride on Brock's boat.
Malogrides did not know Brock, she said.
They headed south in the gulf toward the Wharf restaurant. It was a beautiful night and a pleasant ride. The passengers got out, had a drink, then headed to another bar, the Bridgeview, Malogrides said.
More drinks, then everybody was ready to go home.
After midnight, Malogrides climbed into the boat. It was a 2003 model with twin outboard engines and a total of 400 horsepower. Malogrides stood on one side of Brock, her boyfriend on the other.
For the first few minutes, Brock looked over his shoulder at another boat following close behind, Malogrides said. The men in the boat had just left the same bar, she said.
She thought Brock was contemplating racing them. She glanced over at her boyfriend, who looked concerned. She heard him tell Brock: "Don't do it."
Brock said, "Hold on!" according to Malogrides. Then he floored it.
Malogrides wrapped her arms around a pole as the boat sped through the water. Suddenly, as Brock tried to round the curve from Boca Ciega Bay into Blind Pass, the boat veered toward a row of docks near the St. Pete Yacht and Tennis Condominiums, she said.
People in the boat began to scream as it slammed through one dock, then four more. Malogrides heard the sound of wood cracking. Ahead, she saw a boat parked on a lift at the sixth dock. She feared they would crash into it.
But Brock's boat clipped a piling, which turned them back into the channel before they crashed into the next dock, she said.
Malogrides flew through the air and landed hard in the cold water. She emerged, fearful that the propellers would cut her. She heard her boyfriend calling her name.
He and a friend hoisted her back in the boat.
The crash awakened residents in a nearby condominium tower. They stepped out on their balconies and heard people screaming in the water: "Get a rope!" and "Please come and grab us!"
The telephones started ringing at the St. Pete Beach Police Department about 12:45 a.m. One witness said two boats had been speeding through the channel moments before the crash. Another woman said the second boat was leaving the scene.
When officers arrived, they found Brock's boat idling in the water. Sparks flew from a tangle of exposed wires. One passenger with a bloody face was trying to turn off the outboard engines. There were seven bottles of beer in the boat, five of them empty.
One passenger who couldn't swim had leapt out of the boat and grabbed onto a piling, fearing the boat was about to sink.
None of the passengers wanted to be taken to a hospital.
Malogrides did not realize she was hurt. "I think I was in shock," she said later.
She gave officers her name and telephone number, then left. She said officers did not ask for a statement until later. She left a written account at her attorney's office for investigators.
Officers found Brock sitting on the bank, smelling of alcohol. Still, it would be more than five hours before Brock took a breath alcohol test.
St. Pete Beach police officers turned the investigation over to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is responsible for investigating boating accidents.
Fish and Wildlife Officer David Albonetti arrived around 2:15 a.m. He immediately recognized Brock, as the two men had known each other for about three years.
Brock's eyes were bloodshot, his feet unsteady. The investigator asked him to perform field sobriety tests. Brock refused.
From looking at the docks, Albonetti estimated that Brock was going about 45 mph through the minimum wake zone. He knew Brock was familiar with the area; he had seen Brock traveling there several times.
Albonetti felt certain that Brock caused the crash by speeding, driving recklessly and drinking. He placed Brock under arrest for boating under the influence.
He didn't have a portable breath alcohol analyzer, so he took Brock to the St. Pete Beach Police Department for a test. Brock declined and was issued a $500 fine. He was taken to the Pinellas County jail for booking.
There, his supervisors demanded he take a breath test. Under Sheriff's Office rules, officers under investigation for drug or alcohol use must submit to a test.
And so at 6:15 a.m., 51/2 hours after the crash, Brock blew a 0.076 two times. Authorities rounded it to .08, the level at which Florida presumes impairment.
* * *
A few hours after the accident, Malogrides' body began to ache. She had trouble breathing.
Her boyfriend drove her to an emergency room, where doctors discovered two broken ribs and said her right breast implant had ruptured. Later, doctors found another three injured ribs and said her left breast implant also was damaged.
Her breasts needed to be fixed. But she had to wait several months until her ribs healed.
The 60-year-old Malogrides, who enjoys skydiving and riding on the back of her boyfriend's Harley-Davidson motorcycle, says she could do little but stay home watching television or reading biographies. She lost her job hostessing at a beach restaurant.
It angered her that while she lay at home in pain, Brock was back patrolling the streets.
Brock had posted bail immediately. The 21-year agency veteran was allowed to continue working because he was arrested on a misdemeanor, not a felony.
In March, Brock pleaded no contest to BUI and received a year of probation, 50 hours community service and ordered to pay restitution of roughly $16,000 to the yacht club.
The Sheriff's Office suspended Brock for five days without pay, ordered him to attend alcohol abuse meetings and banned him from drinking for a year. In addition, he was transferred from his position as corporal, in which he supervised other officers, to a deputy on the night shift.
The case was officially closed.
But one question hadn't been fully answered: Was Brock racing another boat?
Albonetti of the wildlife commission told sheriff's officials he found no evidence to support it.
Kendall Davidson of the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office said he did not recall prosecutors finding evidence of a race. Even if Brock had been racing, it likely wouldn't have affected the criminal charge.
What did matter was the extent of injuries on the boat, Davidson said. If someone had been near death after the accident, Brock could have been charged with a felony for causing serious bodily injury.
Brock, he said, was not treated any differently because he was a sheriff's deputy.
Brock declined to speak to the St. Petersburg Times.
Malogrides' attorney, Allweiss, is negotiating with Brock's insurance company for a settlement.
The court has ordered Brock to pay Malogrides' medical bills of $16,512. But Brock's lawyer has asked the judge to retain jurisdiction over the matter while the insurance company negotiates with Malogrides.
Allweiss said in his lawsuit he may seek additional punitive damages, accusing Brock of acting with "reckless disregard" for the lives of his passengers.
"I'm all for second chances," Allweiss said. "But there are certain things that ought to disqualify you from certain professions. This deputy drove drunk while boating and violated a number of other laws.
"If that doesn't disqualify you from being a sheriff's deputy," he said, "I don't know what will."
