Man in the boat overboard, man on the boat drunk

Man made false distress call to US Coast Guard | Daily Mail Online

A man who drunkenly made a false distress call to the US Coast Guard that there was someone overboard because his boat was out of gas was sentenced 56 months in prison.

Justin Stahmer, 39, from Newport News, Virginia, called a distress signal to the coast guard that a man was overboard.

But actually Stahmer was drunk on his boat and out of gas in the Chesapeake Bay, so he needed a lift back to land.​

Four years in jail? That seems excessive.

 

Fuck him.

 

Does it belong in the Awesome thread?

 

Also excessive

 

Man in the Boat Can't Even Find 'Man in the Boat,' Wife Says

See, I thought this would be about that. It usually is ...

 

All he had to do was call for help because he was out of gas, and the USCG would have come. Dumbass. Yeah, they probably would have ticketed him for operating the boat drunk, but it's not like that wasn't going to happen after the man overboard call. Lord knows what they spent on search boats and helicopters being scrambled because of that. Lots of gas and man hours expended.

 

Exactly. Wouldn't the truth have worked just as well? If you're out of gas at sea, the Coast Guard is still obligated to save your stupid ass.

Dude concocted a jail-worthy lie for no reason at all.

 

This guy should get fined a good chunk of change.

But jail time? Four years? Come on now.

 

If he had a gun he’d get probation.

 

Exactly. No one got hurt and dude was drunk, so obviously not thinking straight. Sure, send him to jail for a month or two, make him somehow pay restitution. But four years is just stupid and spiteful. Judge probably prefers sailboats.

 

But what if there had been another MOB at the same time? How allocate resources? Could severely affect the response to a real emergency.

Like, an ambulance between NJ and NYC and a bridge.