Ferry Disaster Figure to Meet With NTSB

Facing a possible contempt citation, the captain of the Staten Island ferry that crashed into a pier last month, killing 10 people, agreed Wednesday to meet with investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board.

But the degree of his willingness to cooperate remains uncertain.

After notifying a federal judge during a brief court session that Michael Gansas would honor an NTSB subpoena today, one of his lawyers added a clarification: Catherine Foti corrected U.S. District Judge Frederic Block when he said Gansas was willing to testify. “I didn’t say that,” the lawyer told Block. “I said he’s willing to appear.”

Gansas, 38, wearing a gray suit and dark tie and looking glum, sat silently in the courtroom. He left surrounded by reporters, but said nothing. Asked outside the Brooklyn courthouse whether the captain would answer NTSB questions, Foti replied, “No comment.”

Since the ferry, which was operating at full-throttle, struck the dock on Staten Island Oct. 15, the NTSB has been trying to interview Gansas. Officials want to know whether he was with the ferry’s pilot, Richard Smith, in the wheelhouse -- as regulations require -- when the accident occurred.

In addition to the NTSB inquiry, Gansas is the focus of criminal investigations by both the Staten Island district attorney’s office and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.

City officials have moved to fire the ferry captain, citing his lack of cooperation amid reports that he was not present to help Smith dock the vessel. Under rules of the New York City Department of Transportation, which operates the ferries, two crew members must be on the bridge at all times when the boat is traveling to and from Staten Island.

Smith, who attempted suicide right after the accident, has not been interviewed by the NTSB; officials are trying to determine whether problems with his blood pressure medication may have caused him to faint while at the controls. The ferry pilot, who remains hospitalized on Staten Island, tested negative following the accident for alcohol or illegal drug use.

Ellen Engleman, NTSB chairwoman, said Gansas too had tested negative for alcohol. The captain and other crew members, she said, also were tested for illegal drugs; those results were expected in several weeks.

Gansas’ lawyers had argued in papers filed before Wednesday’s court session that the captain is suffering from acute stress disorder and that any attempt to question him would be “potentially detrimental” to his health. Besides, they said, his answers were not necessary for the inquiry to continue.

But lawyers for the safety board have countered that Gansas failed to prove his health would be seriously jeopardized by being questioned.

The focus of the investigation shifted to Gansas and Smith soon after the crash when, Engleman said, no mechanical problems were found aboard the vessel and the weather did not appear to be a factor.