Boat Death Claims Refused
The Avalon City Council has refused claims filed against the city stemming from a boating accident off the Santa Catalina Island coast that killed two Orange County men and injured three others last December.
The claims allege that a harbor patrol officer observed the pilot of a 19-foot fishing boat drunk and cruising at high speeds, but failed to take any preventive action before the boat crashed on rocks off the coast.
One of the claims was filed by Newport Beach resident Mary Glose, whose husband, William Glose, 33, and son, Sean Caudillo, 22, were killed. Both men were passengers on the Impulse, out of Newport Beach, which crashed on the rocks off Lovers Cove, on the island’s east coast. The claim sought an unspecified amount for wrongful death and various expenses.
A separate claim seeking $275,000 was filed by David Wilken of Costa Mesa, a passenger on the boat who survived the crash.
The men were among four passengers aboard the boat, which was piloted and owned by Alfred Gausewitz. The claim alleges that a harbor patrol officer should have issued a warning or stopped the boat before it left Avalon Harbor, made a U-turn and went up on the rocks.
Gausewitz and another passenger survived the crash.
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