The State : No Charges in Crane Mishap

No criminal charges will be filed against National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. or the man who was operating a crane when a steel basket carrying 12 men plunged 30 feet to the deck of a Navy ship in San Diego, killing six and injuring the others. San Diego County Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller said his investigation was unable to pinpoint blame for the July 10, 1987, accident. The investigation also failed to show that Nassco or the crane operator were reckless or negligent. Miller’s report ruled out mechanical failure, but it raised the possibility that the operator may have “inadvertently” caused the accident by failing to use the crane foot brake while transporting the personnel basket. “Absent some indication of deliberate conduct on the part of the operator . . . it can reasonably be concluded that the accident resulted from the operator inadvertently disengaging the clutch and failing to use the foot brake,” the report said. The report also emphasized that the cause of the accident may never be known.