Nassau County Boat Crash Sends Four To Hospital

What a shame for the Ratliff's - being victims of a boating accident caused by an idiot that didn't have the sense, or the brains to operate his vessel safely in an obviously dangerous situation. I hope this person is sited to the max for being responsible for injuries and property damage by his reckless and careless behavior.

Maybe you should wait until the investigation is complete to put the blame on someone. There are 2 sides to every story.

Facts has obviously never captained a boat before.

how is it chads fault when it was on chads side. If it was chads fault it would have been in the other side of the river! Know the facts before you make asumptions!!

Blind bend curve, If they want to be boaters they should read COMINDANT Inst M16672.3a Its Called RULES OF THE ROAD it tells you how to drive a boat

Well, I was there, and I seen both boats first and have been of pictures to prove that the ratliff's boat, whoever they are had plenty of alcohol which pays a major part, by the way ratliffs, its obvious by the damage to the boats whos fault it was, accidents happen but when they do dont try to blame other people!

your lucky you are all alive!

grow up!

Capt Buzz wrote:

What a shame for the Ratliff's - being victims of a boating accident caused by an idiot that didn't have the sense, or the brains to operate his vessel safely in an obviously dangerous situation. I hope this person is sited to the max for being responsible for injuries and property damage by his reckless and careless behavior.

hey captain, the ratliff's were victims by their own fault... I was there! and have the pics to prove it seeing we were the first boat on the scene! They were on the wrong side of the river coming around the curve which caused them to hit the other boat.... not to mention the alcohol that was in the ratliff's boat! So I'm with you.... I hope they are held accountable for the damaged they did and is sited at the max.... note to you also... you might want to check facts before you start taking sides!

People need to pay attention when on the water in boats. We went on a canoe trip down the Sante Fe River a few weeks ago, as we passed Ichnatucknee River, boaters would fly past us creating large wakes and flying around corners with no care whatsoever about us canoing down the river. We own a large boat, and always very careful when out on the river, and we control the alcohol consumption when driving the boat.

There at scene wrote:

Well, I was there, and I seen both boats first and have been of pictures to prove that the ratliff's boat, whoever they are had plenty of alcohol which pays a major part, by the way ratliffs, its obvious by the damage to the boats whos fault it was, accidents happen but when they do dont try to blame other people!
your lucky you are all alive!
grow up!

so you are the only one who says it was the fault of the ratliffs? even if they were on the "wrong" side of the river..im not sure there is a right or wrong side if they are fishing or trolling along or drifting slowly..if so, then all the boats i see in the st. johns and trout river are in big trouble! but it seems according to the story that the ratliffs were indeed the victims..by the way, the object that is going slower is usually the one most damaged as the faster one plows thru it...so guess what? IF the ratliffs boat was indeed the most damaged, it doesnt take a brain surgeon to see who was at fault...and so there was alcohol in the boat...was it empty containers? were they full and had not been open yet? did you see the captain of the ratliffs boat drinking or stumbling drunk? you are making assumptions..and guess what that makes you?

well most of them were full containers. we were out there like 20 minutes before the crash.

It doesn't matter whos at fault. People need to be more careful on the water, there are boaters, canoes, kyaks, jet skis, skiers, and tubers out on the waterways. We need to watch out for each other and be respectful to each other.

You know it is easy to paint the white and yellow lines on the road to indicate lane usage for cars, but try as we might we can not get the paint to dry on the river or waterways. Plus most people operating a small craft do not read or follow the rules of boating as it goes for safety or right of way. So when you are out on a boat it is safest to assume that the other operator is mot going to pay attention, use good judgement and or follow the safe rules of boating. If you take care and assume they are going to do wverything thay can wrong you will be a little safer. Be careful out there.

scott1 wrote:

<quoted text>so you are the only one who says it was the fault of the ratliffs? even if they were on the "wrong" side of the river..im not sure there is a right or wrong side if they are fishing or trolling along or drifting slowly..if so, then all the boats i see in the st. johns and trout river are in big trouble! but it seems according to the story that the ratliffs were indeed the victims..by the way, the object that is going slower is usually the one most damaged as the faster one plows thru it...so guess what? IF the ratliffs boat was indeed the most damaged, it doesnt take a brain surgeon to see who was at fault...and so there was alcohol in the boat...was it empty containers? were they full and had not been open yet? did you see the captain of the ratliffs boat drinking or stumbling drunk? you are making assumptions..and guess what that makes you?

Yes, they were empty bud light cans, probably around 25 to 30 plenty of pictures to prove that, whether they were drinking or not, who knows! I do know that I do know Chad thought and I have seen him on the water over the last 2 years and he is always safe and operates his vessel to full ability and maintains a safe distance between boats! We are at the St. Mary’s River every Fri, Sat, and Sun and Chad has never put us in danger or flew around curves at 50 mph and I do know (because we were there) he had just passed our boat and was going no where near the 50 mph Mr. Ratliff claimed he was going.
We were one cure away from the accident when it happened.
Actually both boats had passed up within the time frame of the accident...
When the Ratliff’s boat passed us they were trolling and standing up having a good time, I remember this because they kept waving at us and we had no clue who they were! But they accelerated speed and went around the curve which is when the accident occurred.
Regardless of who is at fault, accidents happen, but when a stranger (even if it is his fault) carries your bleeding, hurt friends to safety why are you pointing blame! If he would of put his boat in the water with the intentions of hurting people he would of left you stranded there, he didn’t!!
Let's all the FWC do their job and decide!
Also, remember the old wise tail he who points the blame is a fault and scared of getting caught!
This was a terrible accident and it goes to show that every driver on a boat should take precautions. And to the comment about being on the wrong side of a river, if Mr. Ratliff was just trolling his boat he should have used boating safety and been on the proper side of a river, not sitting on a curve knowing what could happen. He was on the wrong side of the river, he wasn’t fishing, and was on a corner, common sense would claim that is not the safest spot to cruise!
Nothing will change what happened, unfortunately there is no video tape to deem the guilty party, but this can be a lessoned learned for everyone who enjoys boating, you can never be too safe!

truth sets you free wrote:

<quoted text>
WHAT? IT SAYS THE DUDE CAME FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER AND HIT RATLIFF..... MAYBE YOU SHOULD GET THE FACTS......

i was the first boat on the scene and Ratliff was the guilty party he was on the wrong side of the river and passed my boat music on yelling and waving not paying any attention. I have pics of all the alchohal and liquor floating out of his boat, the police have all my photos so they can decide who is guilty.....I am on this river all the time, Chad is a good boat driver and a respectful person. Ratliff is not a familiar face at the St mary's river and I know I new the name Ratliff because he was arrested for something in the west side journal a few weeks ago I do believe.

not a wolly wrote:

<quoted text>
i was the first boat on the scene and Ratliff was the guilty party he was on the wrong side of the river and passed my boat music on yelling and waving not paying any attention. I have pics of all the alchohal and liquor floating out of his boat, the police have all my photos so they can decide who is guilty.....I am on this river all the time, Chad is a good boat driver and a respectful person. Ratliff is not a familiar face at the St mary's river and I know I new the name Ratliff because he was arrested for something in the west side journal a few weeks ago I do believe.

are u serious? u cant be

i never had cans in my boat either. i had about 10 bottles that were unopened. where did the cans come from?

terry ratliff wrote:

i never had cans in my boat either. i had about 10 bottles that were unopened. where did the cans come from?

Not sure, they were bud light, there was also jack daniels that red punch!

Also, your intertube and flipflops and cooler are all on the bank!!!

We put it there for yall!

terry ratliff wrote:

well most of them were full containers. we were out there like 20 minutes before the crash.

dumb ass if he was going 15 miles an hour when he turned it wouldnt have not shoot him in the woods as far as it did but thay got plenty of pics showing all the alcohol in the boat and there again it was on chads side of the river if it was his fault it would have been on the other side

chad has been to that river so many times and never had a problem. Everyone needs to stop talking crap. It wasn't his fault!