Ferry Captain Takes 5th Before Board

The captain of the Staten Island ferry that crashed into a pier last month, killing 10 people, finally met with investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday, but would give only his name and age.

NTSB head Ellen G. Engleman said that Michael Gansas exercised his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions about the Oct. 15 accident. “We hope we will be able to talk to Capt. Gansas in the future,” Engleman said in a statement.

Iris Weinshall, commissioner of New York City’s transportation department, reacted with much harsher language.

“It’s outrageous that Capt. Gansas refuses to share information about what happened on that day,” Weinshall said.

The city has moved to fire the captain because of his lack of cooperation. Gansas, 38, also is the subject of criminal inquiries by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and the Staten Island district attorney’s office.

In response to a subpoena, the captain and three lawyers arrived Thursday morning at Ft. Wadsworth, a military installation on Staten Island.

After meeting with NTSB investigators for two hours inside a red brick Coast Guard building, the group left the base by a rear gate, avoiding a group of reporters.

“We will continue to conduct our investigation,” said Keith Holloway, a spokesman for the safety board, after Gansas’ departure. “We have done what we can do at this time.”

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Frederic Block, stating there was a compelling public interest, instructed Gansas that he had to meet with the board.

Although the captain appeared Thursday, he refused to provide information about a central issue -- whether he was in the wheelhouse, as city rules require, when ferry pilot Richard Smith was at the controls.

The ferry hit the pier at full throttle, and authorities are trying to determine whether Smith may have passed out as a result of side effects from blood pressure medication.

Smith attempted suicide soon after the crash and remains in a hospital on Staten Island. He has not been questioned by the NTSB.