This has been the topic of the day on local talk radio in the Twin Cities. On Lake Minnetonka friday night a man was killed in a “boat rage” incident.
Now this might be enough for a rant all by itself, a drunken asshole knocks another guy overboard and then runs him over with his boat but this is what really pisses me off:
It’s a Fourth of July Minnetonka tradition to raft hundreds of boats together on the lake, then get drunk and party all day until the fireworks. Minnetonka is an affluent suberb and people like to show off their big new boats. In this case they decided that it was too much trouble to move their asses out of the way to let law enforcement and rescue workers get to the victim in the water. It took three hours before the body was recovered because these fucking self-important snobs refused to move their boats. There was even a report that some people were climbing on to a rescue boat and doing cannonballs off of it. Police are still seeking witnesses to the crime and had trouble friday night because it was apparently too inconvenient for people who saw the incident to miss their fireworks so they could give a statement.
To anyone who refused to move your boats or help the police on friday night:
FUCK YOU and FUCK YOUR FIREWORKS! I hope someday you get to float unconscious in the water while drunk fucking snobs on expensive boats aggressively block anyone who tries to help you. God forbid a human life is allowed to get in the way of your patriotic fireworks.
That is unbelievable. That’s when you do what you do at airplane crash sites.
Get out the biohazard signs. Bring in bullhorns and talk about danger. Evacuate for public safety.
Assholes can’t be moved for public good, at least they might move if their own asses were at stake.
Yes those people are jerks. Of course in a large group of people everyone is thinking “my neighbour will do something so I don’t have to volunteer to be a witness” and “why doesn’t the guy next to me move?” etc. But not one person would do the right thing? That calls for a mass arrest.
Slight aside - is it just me or does Lake Minnetonka sound like a Garrison Keillor made-up name?
I agree, haul them in. Arrest everyone and sort it out later. I envision Sean Connery stepping in and telling all of them “and don’t you fuck with me.” (Rising Sun)
That aside, the whole episode on Minnetonka only strengthens my feeling that “minnesota nice” is definately being replaced with “minnesota I-don’t-give-a-rip”.
That aside, the whole episode on Minnetonka only strengthens my feeling that “minnesota nice” is definately being replaced with “minnesota I-don’t-give-a-rip”.
I can’t imagine that after the first request for those idiots to move that the paramedics didn’t immediately call the police in to have them arrested. What gives? Guy won’t move his boat? Board it and lock him up. I’m betting after two or three get nailed the rest happily get out of the way.
I didn’t quite understand that part either. From what I’ve heard on the radio it seems like the incident occurred in or near a sort of open lane for boats entering and exiting the rafted area. The victim must have floated into the cluster of rafted boats.
Bongmaster, from what I’ve heard on talk radio the sheriff’s department had used most of it’s personel around an island from which the fireworks were launched so they didn’t have enough staff to board boats and make arrests, their primary goal was to recover the victim.
I personally think that boat numbers should have been taken down and the sheriff’s dept. should have spent the rest of the weekend impounding boats and making arrests. What those idiots did was no different than blocking an ambulance or a police car.
Im disgusted with this story as an outsider to american culture i find it hard to believe that the dicks that barracaded their boats together were not severly punished, i mean road rage is bad enough but c,mon boat rage what the fuck is all that about!
We had an incident here on July 4th - a firework landed on top of a restaurant and set the roof on fire. When the firefighters and ambulance showed up, the crowd that gathered threw lit fireworks at them. The police were called and several arrests were made (drunk & disorderly, assault).
Because it soooooo needed repeating. Lake Minnetonka is filled with the most pompous, arrogant, over-boated, asshole boaters I have ever come across. They have boats that should be ocean going vessels on a lake that is essentially a bunch of joined bays. Image is king, and common boating courtesy is out the window.
From today’s Star-Tribune
Ross Nustad doesn’t know who, if anybody, is to blame for his only brother’s death Friday on Lake Minnetonka. But what troubles him about the information he has is that rescuers trying to reach Ryan Nustad were hindered by other boaters.
“These people wouldn’t move those damn boats,” Ross Nustad said Monday evening. There may never be any way to tell whether his younger brother could have been saved if he’d been found more quickly, Nustad said, but his family has heard stories of miraculous rescues before.
About 300 boats had pulled into Cruiser’s Cove along Big Island to party and watch the July 4th fireworks from three cities, said Capt. Bill Chandler. He wasn’t surprised by the numbers, but what stood out was the demeanor of the boaters.
“It was ugly,” he said. “This was extreme. People were partying and didn’t want to move.”
As one deputy approached the scene in a patrol boat, six people swam up and climbed on to stop his progress. Most thought it was funny, but one man threatened the deputy before they got off. The deputy had to call “officer needs help,” Chandler said. “They just overwhelmed him.”
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Since when is it ok to threaten a shreiff’s deputy? Who the hell did these people think they were?
If some drunken idiot is climbing on a patrol boat and threatening law enforcement I expect to hear a bang, a splash and radio call call for more back-up. The only reason I can think of that the sheriff’s department was not more aggressive is that they were showing deference to an upscale crowd. If this happened on the street and some asshole jumped on a patrol car responding to life or death emergency and threatened the officers inside I would imagine that that individual would be in a world of hurt. I hope some witness can come forward with boat numbers and information about some of the worst offenders here.