Who was responsible for making sure a Ride the Ducks vehicle that crashed into a tour bus on Seattle’s Aurora Bridge in 2015 was safely maintained? Five North Seattle College students died in the crash, and dozens more were injured.
On Wednesday, attorneys grilled company staff in charge of safety and operations during the Ride the Ducks civil case to determine who was at fault.
The testimony centered on who was responsible for the maintenance of the Duck that caused the fatal 2015 crash.
Surveillance video shows the Ride the Ducks vehicle veering into oncoming traffic and slamming into a tour bus when the front axle failed.
Ryan Johnson, director of operations for Ride the Ducks Seattle, admitted having no background in mechanics. Johnson testified he was not aware more than 80 percent of the service bulletins were not completed at the time of the accident.
In court, Johnson read from one of his own memos from March of 2014, voicing concern about the shop's ability to carry out work.
"Right now, I see a shop that is at its maximum, a shop that is moving beyond workload capacity," Johnson's memo stated. "Things are going unfinished or being bypassed despite every effort from Joe to squeeze more and more from his guys."
Joe Hatton was the maintenance manager for the company.
Attorney Karen Koehler showed the courtroom records of the same Duck boat hitting the Aurora bridge three separate times during the summer before the crash.
More than 40 plaintiffs are trying to prove they paid the price for sloppy maintenance.
Bus passenger Seohee Bak, a North Seattle College student from South Korea, 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.
"Do you mean you couldn't tell their faces?" asked Koehler.
"Correct and I didn't want to see that," Bak answered.
