Fast-Boat Feds Should Have Seen His Dinghy, Lighted or Not

Their Thermal Camera Would Have Shown USVI Crash Victim as Clear as Day

Peter Swanson May 10

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His friends say Shawn Leass always ran with a light when piloting his 12-foot dinghy after dark, but when it comes to assigning blame for the crash that killed him, that should hardly matter.

The U.S. Customs & Border Protection vessel that witnesses say ran Leass down comes equipped with the same thermal imaging capabilities that have enabled American soldiers to dominate battlefields after dark. The CBP crew should have seen Leass and his running outboard—glowing white—against the cooler water of Hulover Cut.

Hulover is a body of water at St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. That’s where the accident happened about an hour after sunset on Saturday, May 2, between 7:30 and 7:45 p.m. This was during the period known as astronomical twilight, when stars become visible. Most people would consider the sky completely dark.

Defense contractor Teledyne FLIR supplied thermal imaging cameras to each of the 52 Coastal Interceptor Vessels sold to CBP at a cost of about $930,000 each. FLIR cameras are a type of gear perfectly matched to counter-drug patrols, anti-human trafficking interdictions, and search-and-rescue missions—operations that tend to happen at night.

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According to witnesses quoted anonymously by local media outlets, the 41-foot government boat itself was going fast without lights when it hit Leass’ dinghy. Several other cruisers familiar with USVI waters have come forward and said it was common for CBP boats to run like that. They have a top speed of 58 knots.

Naturally, given the mission, Coastal Interceptors have a full electronics suite, supplied by Garmin, which includes three multi-function display screens at the helm.

We only know that the name of the commander of the CBP vessel is Brandon Martin because the Virgin Island Daily News reported that Martin’s testimony in an unrelated federal case had to be delayed because Martin might have been shaken up by the “tragic accident.”

The FLIR camera, which appears to be mounted just ahead of the boat’s radar, can send a continuous video image of the boat’s surroundings through to a display screen, which is a lot like watching an old-fashioned black and white television.

Running fast at night, a prudent commander would ensure that FLIR thermal imaging occupied one of those three displays, with radar and chartplotter data likely filling the other two. The Interceptors are designed to be operated by a crew of three, so Martin or someone assigned by him should have been monitoring all that real-time navigational data.

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One paragraph (in a total of only two) released by CBP about the accident announced that investigations were being conducted CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Questions they might ask are: Was the FLIR system operational and turned on? If so, whose job was it keep an eye on the thermal imagery? Why did he (or she) not see Leass and his dinghy ahead of them?

All objects emit energy. Even in pitch black, FLIR cameras will can see the energy given out by the person or object. Because of that, the glow of an all-around white light or the beam of a flashlight would hardly have improved upon the thermal picture.