Charges dismissed for Marines involved with San Diego Zoo gondola incident
Back in February, the Marine Corps Times posted an article about four Marines who were arrested. Their charges related to their rocking a gondola back and forth until their ride automatically stopped. Passengers were stranded above the ground until they were rescued.
It took the San Diego Fire Rescue Department over two hours to get all the passengers safely on the ground. Negotiations with the prosecutors resulted in the dropping of the charges after six months of no incidents of law violations.
From the Military Times:
“After a negotiated agreement, we agreed to dismiss the case after 6 months of no new violations of the law and full payment of restitution,” Sierra wrote in a statement to Marine Corps Times.
She noted that the defendants have paid $18,260 in restitution to the San Diego Zoo.
The Marines had faced up to three years in prison on felony vandalism charges.
Sgt. Jacob Dean Bauer, Cpl. Brandon Gregory Cook, Lance Cpl. Brayden Stone Posey and Lance Cpl. Marquette Alexander Williams were arrested on Jan. 29 for allegedly stalling the San Diego Zoo’s Skyfari Aerial Tram.
It took San Diego firefighters a little more than two hours to evacuate the passengers who were stuck on the ride.
At the time of the incident, the 3rd Marine Air Wing Marines were training at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Duane B. Kampa told Marine Corps Times in February. They were assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 225, which is based out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona.
“Following a thorough command investigation, leadership of the four Marines addressed the matter appropriately,” 3rd Marine Air Wing spokesman Maj. Mason Englehart wrote in a statement to Marine Corps Times.
The Marine Corps Times, NBC San Diego, and Military Times has additional information on the story.
Category: Marines
Swinging with the wing🙃
Idiots.
The Moron Corps.
Hey, kindly go fuck yourself, non hacker.
Ha Ha love it! Thx Steve for all you do.
DUMBSHITS!
Safety briefings are getting longer and longer.
Ha! 100% exactly what I was thinking.
Wingers setting the standard, yet again.
At least the Zoo animals went unmolested.
That we know of…🤣
These dudes would have been fine had they just followed the flowchart.
Dat’s a good one.
I can’t stop laughing! 🤣🤣🤣
What is it with Marine Air Wingers and gondolas? At least no one got killed this time.
I knew the asshole Marine pilot who was flying that VMAQ-2 EA-6B that took out that gondola in Italy and killed all of those innocent people.
That arrogant shithead should never have gotten his wings; he was a f*cking turd from day one, and everyone knew that he was irresponsible and dangerous. Yet no one in leadership positions ever did anything about him until it was too late.
How he escaped serving many years in Fort Leavenworth for what he and his crew did that day in Italy will forever be a mystery to me. They should have locked him up and thrown away the key.
Then you should be thrilled to hear that he gives talks at the Admiral Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership on his PTSD from the incident without taking any responsibility for what he actually did. This isn’t ironic since he avoided prison by lying on sworn statements and destroying evidence.
https://sldinfo.com/2014/02/the-challenge-of-dealing-with-ptsd-capt-joseph-p-schweitzer-comes-to-terms-with-a-dramatic-accident/
What he is missing is that he isn’t feeling “survivors guilt”; he is feeling real guilt for murdering all those innocent people through depraved disregard for safety by his actions. Disgusting really. So he paints himself as a victim and has learned to live with his guilt of what was a terrible “accident”; but was indeed all his fault.
Copy all. That’s revolting.
As per the linked article, Captain Schweitzer was a Naval Flight Officer (NFO) and the Mission Commander of the EA-6B that day, so yes, it was indeed all his fault, but he wasn’t actually piloting the aircraft. And what he’s getting away with re: talking about his “PTS of the D” is disgusting and makes me want to puke.
The asshole that I’m talking about was the Marine Aviator who was at the controls of the EA-6B that day: Captain Richard J. Ashby. It was indeed also all HIS fault.
Washingtonpost.com: Marine Pilot Acquitted in Alps Deaths
Both Ashby and Schweitzer should have gone to Fort Leavenworth for a VERY long time.
Those two turds and the reckless shit that they did that caused the deaths of 20 people put a dark, bloody stain on Marine Corps Aviation that remains to this day.
My thumbs up on this regards your advocacy of his punishment, FTR. I would even go farther and propose an afterlife destination that involves flames.
Saved round:
Ashby continued to act like an arrogant, entitled asshole in public, even after he’d been convicted at court martial of obstruction of justice in May 1999, served time in the Camp Lejeune brig, and had been dismissed from the Marine Corps.
Pilot in Fatal Ski Gondola Accident Kicked Out of Casino – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)
“Just weeks after he was released from prison, the Marine pilot whose jet clipped a ski gondola cable in Italy, killing 20 people, was kicked out of a Las Vegas casino for allegedly causing a disturbance.
Capt. Richard Ashby, 32, of Mission Viejo, was cited Monday for trespassing, a misdemeanor, after he was asked by Rio Suite hotel casino security guards to leave and refused, Las Vegas Police Lt. Marc Joseph said Thursday.
Joseph said the casino claimed Ashby was causing a disturbance about 1:30 a.m. Monday and was repeatedly warned by security guards that he was trespassing.”
“Stupid is as stupid does.” Mrs. Gump
It’s always fun to use something in a manner that it was not designed for.
I wonder why they made the point they were Marines? I mean, they probably were out on liberty and not in uniform, I imagine. Why not just four friends? If four guys from Home Depot did the same thing I don’t think they would reference their place of work.
ANT time someone does something stupid or illegal, if they spent ten minutes in recruit training with the Marines, it always makes its way into the story to try to denigrate the Corps. Common among lesser mortals to try to drag us down to their level.
Palate cleanser: https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2022/11/15/hawaii-marine-honored-for-jumping-off-cliff-to-save-womans-life/