The founder of Ride the Ducks Seattle took the witness stand to defend his company against claims it ignored safety problems that led to the 2015 crash that killed five people on the Aurora bridge.
Passengers, family members of victims, and the vehicle's driver have already testified. Brian Tracey, owner of Ride the Ducks Seattle, took the stand Thursday morning.
“We did everything we could at the time to make it preventable,” said Tracey.
The lawyers for 42 plaintiffs who were killed or injured when the amphibious vehicle rammed a tour bus are making the case that Tracey and his managers put profits ahead of safety.
“There was no expense that was too great for safety,” Tracey said at one point.
But plaintiff’s provided evidence of numerous times that Ride the Ducks chief mechanic asked for the hiring on additional mechanics to maintain the fleet.
“You don’t hire mechanics until the need was there,” Tracey said, in explaining the reason why such requests may have been denied.
“So, you didn’t follow your head mechanic’s advice (to hire more mechanics)?” plaintiff’s counsel Karen Koehler asked?
“My operations manager didn’t. He thought it was a scheduling problem,” Tracey responded.
Koehler also asked why Tracey and his managers had no formalized training for running a duck boat business.
“The way you really learn best is by actually doing it. There really was no school on how to learn how to run an amphibious vehicle company,” Tracey said.
Duck boat number six crossed the center line on the Aurora bridge and rammed a tour bus on September 24, 2015. Investigators determined the vehicle’s left front axle snapped.
That was the same part that needed strengthening, according to a service bulletin that Ride the Ducks International sent to all duck owners in 2013.
Ride the Ducks Seattle did not heed that warning.
“I had no knowledge of that service bulletin (until after the accident),” Tracey testified.
Koehler asked why the company ignored a large percentage of service bulletins.
“Were you aware 80 percent of service bulletins that came from Ride the Ducks International were not addressed by your company?” Koehler asked.
“I was not aware of that,” Tracey said. He said service bulletins went to others in his company that he trusted would take care of them.
Court documents show the same Seattle Ride the Ducks vehicle involved in the deadly crash hit the Aurora bridge three separate times over a two-month period.
Ride the Ducks Seattle has already paid nearly quarter million dollars in fines for dozens of safety violations.
Plaintiffs are now close to wrapping up their portion of the trial at the King County Courthouse.
More than 40 people are suing Ride the Ducks Seattle, Ride the Ducks International, the city of Seattle, and the state for the accident.
Bus passenger Seohee Bak, a North Seattle College student from South Korea, previously testified through an interpreter about her bruised body, and the emotional trauma from seeing people lose their lives that day.
"Many people were bleeding and crying, and also dead people where I was not able to recognize their figures," said Bak.
The civil trial started in October and is expected to last about five months.
