Survivors of Fatal Boat Crash Don’t Blame the Driver

Ernest Chavez, Carol Kemble and Stephen Brennan can’t shake memories about the night two years ago when they survived a boat crash in Seal Beach’s Anaheim Bay that killed five of their friends. But the nightmares do not include anger toward Virl Earles, the driver who crashed the boat head-on into a concrete buoy.

In fact, they could end up being three of the best defense witnesses at his trial, now under way in Orange County Superior Court, on involuntary manslaughter charges.

It’s the second trial for Earles, a 31-year-old construction worker from Seal Beach. In the first, the jury couldn’t reach a verdict and wound up deadlocked 9-3 in favor of acquittal.

The three survivors emphatically told jurors this week that Earles had good control of the boat, was not driving recklessly and that at no time did they feel his driving placed them in any danger.

Carol Kemble, 26, now an account executive with an employment agency, quietly described to jurors how she dove into the water after the crash, despite her own injuries, desperately attempting to save others. She said she felt safe on the boat before the accident and at no time worried that it was being driven at an unsafe speed.

But when Kemble left the courtroom she couldn’t stop the tears, and she cried most of the way to her car, with her boyfriend trying to comfort her.

“It’s there every day,” she said about the crash, after her testimony. “You try to block it out, but you can’t.”

But never, she said, has she been angry at Earles.

“It was not his fault,” she said. “He’s not to blame; it just happened.”

Earles and five of his friends had met Kemble and two of her friends at the Red Onion at Peter’s Landing in Huntington Harbour near closing time. They all decided to get into a power boat Earles and his friends had borrowed for an excursion to see the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

The crash occurred just after the group entered Anaheim Bay on the return trip from the Queen Mary.

Earles contends that a missing light at the end of the west jetty guarding the entrance to the bay threw him off course. He thought he was in the middle of the safe-boating channel when the crash occurred.

Prosecutors say Earles knew the speed limit inside the bay was 5 m.p.h. and should have known that driving five to six times that speed could be dangerous. They also claim he should have known the six-passenger boat was overloaded and should have been more careful.

Chavez, 26, who now lives in Utah, refuses to criticize Earles, who has been a friend for several years.

“A lot of people in Seal Beach have said, Ernie, if you had been driving that boat, would this have happened? And I say, ‘No, no way,’ ” Chavez said. “But really, you never know. I certainly didn’t think Virl was reckless. But I guess we’ll find out when the jury comes in.”

Brennan, who testified Monday, had little to say outside court except that “I got nothing against Virl--he wasn’t responsible for what happened.”

The survivors’ testimony gave a chilling view of the events that night:

None of them remembers the actual impact. They all remember being in the boat one second, in the water the next. They made several desperate attempts to dive for others but finally gave up and headed for the buoy. Holding onto Earles, who was the most seriously injured, Chavez and Brennan first helped Kemble onto the buoy. Then Kemble and Chavez worked to keep Earles’ head above water while Brennan swam for help, despite a broken pelvis.

Brennan and Chavez have recovered from their injuries. Kemble still has back problems.

Kemble and Chavez agreed that it’s been difficult for them since the crash.

“You can’t forget about it--it won’t go away,” Chavez said. “(But) it did show me how precious life is.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Conley pointed out to the jury during the survivors’ testimony that all three are suing the federal government for operating an unsafe harbor. He got all to agree that it would benefit their lawsuit if Earles is acquitted.

Conley also got some answers he wanted. Chavez said the boat was going 25 to 30 miles an hour when it hit the buoy. He also said the boat had not slowed any after it entered the bay.

Chavez said it was possible Earles was driving too fast, though he insisted he wasn’t concerned about it then.

The five killed were Anthony Sutton, 27, Ronald Myers, 22, and John Bakos, 22, all of Seal Beach; Kathy Weaver, 24, of Laguna Beach, and Patricia Hulings, 20, of Downey.