Arrest Warrant Issued After Captain Skips Hearing on Intoxication Charge
The containership captain, who was arrested on charges that he was operating his vessel while intoxicated, failed to show for a court hearing this week. The King County District Court in Washington State issued a $10,000 warrant for his arrest on August 27 after both the captain and his lawyer did not attend a scheduled pre-trial hearing.
Oleh Danylin, age 48 and a Ukrainian citizen, was charged on August 25 with operating the vessel, the MSC Jubilee IX (108,770 dwt / 8,800 TEU), while intoxicated after having been reported by a Puget Sound pilot. The first officer of the containership had assumed command of the vessel and, along with the pilot, navigated the ship from the anchorage in Everett, Washington, to the berth in Seattle. The ship was detained until MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company supplied a replacement captain.
The court had ordered Danylin to remain in the state, not to consume alcohol, and that his passport should be in the custody of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Court papers from when he was charged reflect that he was requesting an interpreter, but pleaded not guilty to the charge. A U.S. Coast Guard boarding team and the Coast Guard Investigative Service had boarded the ship, and according to court papers, the captain agreed to a sobriety test. Court papers said he was performing so poorly, the investigators stopped the test for his own safety.
He later told investigators that he had not consumed alcohol in two months. He said the smell the pilot reported was “likely mouthwash” he used 10 minutes prior. However, he had agreed to the sobriety test and then a chemical breath test given by the Coast Guard, which showed 0.24 percent blood alcohol. He took two additional breath tests administered that same afternoon by the Washington State Patrol, and both registered 0.25 percent blood alcohol content.
The Coast Guard imposed $1,000 civil penalty, and Danylin was charged and appeared before the judge on August 25. The arrest warrant was issued after he failed to attend a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday.