Anthony W. Reed,
CAoS Safety Ambassador

4/15
Coast Guard, Rescue units search for person in water
The U.S. Coast Guard and several other rescue units are searching for a person that was reported to have gone over board a Washington State Ferry at approximately 7:30 this evening.
The Coast Guard received the call of a person overboard the Washington State Ferry Puyallip at 7:33 p.m. The ferry was transiting westbound from Seattle to Bainbridge Island.
A Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Port Angeles, A 41-foot patrol boat from Coast Guard Station Seattle, the Chief Seattle, and Des Moines Fire and Rescue are all participating in the search.
For more information, contact Petty Officer Robert K. Lanier at pager 206-810-0942.

4/16
Coast Guard, rescue units suspend search for person in water
***Update to person overboard Washington State Ferry***
U.S. Coast Guard and several other rescue units suspended the search for a person that fell overboard a Washington State Ferry at approximately 7:30 Sunday evening. The Coast Guard and other rescue units suspended their search at midnight this morning.
The Coast Guard received the call of a person overboard the W.S.F. Puyallup at 7:33 p.m. on Sunday. The ferry was transiting westbound from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. Witnesses, who were interviewed by the Coast Guard and Washington State Patrol, reported the man was sitting or leaning on the port side aft rail. The man fell overboard as the ferry made a starboard turn approach to Eagle Harbor.
A Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Port Angeles, a 41-foot patrol boat from Coast Guard Station Seattle, the Chief Seattle, and Bainbridge Island Fire and Rescue conducted an immediate search from Eagle Harbor south to Decatur Reef.
The incident is under investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office Puget Sound.
For more information, contact Petty Officer Robert K. Lanier, Coast Guard Public Affairs, at (206) 220-7237.

Man probably fell off ferry
Monday, April 16, 2001
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
A passenger on the Puyallup ferry's Seattle to Bainbridge run likely fell overboard Sunday night, the Coast Guard said Monday.
The 30-year-old Seattle man, whose identity was not released pending notification of relatives, was either leaning or sitting on a rail.
The man fell overboard as the ferry turned while approaching Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island. It does not appear the man jumped as investigator originally thought.
The ferry Puyallup stopped its run and lowered a search boat, but the man's body has not yet been found.
"They saw him for awhile then lost sight of him,'' said Coast Guard Petty Officer Robert Lanier.
"It's tragic that it happened," Lanier said. "Hopefully we can find the reason.

Monday, April 16, 2001, 05:32 p.m. Pacific
Local Digest
Man missing after fall from ferry
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND - A man who disappeared off a ferry traveling from Seattle to Bainbridge Island last night apparently fell, the Coast Guard said today.
The 30-year-old Seattle man was sitting or leaning on the port or left-side rail when the ferry Puyallup made a right turn to Eagle Harbor and he fell, the Coast Guard said.
Washington State Ferries officials earlier said they believed the man had jumped, but additional witnesses interviewed by the Coast Guard and the State Patrol reported that the man fell.
A search at the water at the time located the man's backpack, which revealed his identity, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Robert Lanier. A search again at daylight failed to find the man. His name is not being relased until realtives can be notified.

Tuesday, April 17, 2001 - 12:00 a.m. Pacific
Man fell in water as ferry turned; presumed death called accidental
By Ian Ith
Seattle Times staff reporter

State ferry officials never thought they needed signs warning passengers against climbing or sitting on the railings that ring the passenger decks. No one had ever been known to accidentally fall over the rails, which are more than 2 inches higher than the U.S. Coast Guard requires.
But such a step now may be considered after Anthony W. Reed, 30, of Seattle fell off a railing of the ferry Puyallup Sunday night, presumably drowning off Bainbridge Island.
"Obviously, we'll have to go back and take a look at that," Patricia Patterson, Washington State Ferries spokeswoman, said yesterday.
Reed apparently was sitting or leaning on the narrow railing on the rear, port-side deck of the Puyallup about 7:30 p.m. Sunday when the boat, traveling at 18 knots (about 21 mph), made its usual hard turn to starboard between Blakely Rock and Tyee Shoals and headed into dock at Eagle Harbor, the Coast Guard said.
The turn likely combined with the weight of a heavy knapsack on Reed's back to pull him overboard from the picklefork deck, Coast Guard spokesman Robert Lanier said. The picklefork decks - narrow levels extending above the end of the car decks - are about three stories above the water.
The ferry captain immediately ordered the 460-foot ferry to a full stop, Lanier said. Two life rings were thrown into the water. The crew launched a small rescue boat to try to find Reed.
A man-overboard call was broadcast at 7:33 p.m. Five minutes later, patrol boats from the Coast Guard, Seattle Police Department and the Bainbridge Island Fire Department were on the scene. A Coast Guard helicopter from Port Angeles was overhead by 7:46 p.m., Lanier said.
A rescuer spotted the man in the water at some point, Lanier said. But he quickly disappeared and was never seen again. The search, which extended from Eagle Harbor to Decatur Reef on the island's south end, was suspended at midnight. There is no active search for his body.
Rescuers recovered Reed's backpack from the water and found his identification inside, State Patrol spokesman Glen Tyrrell said.
Reed was riding to Bainbridge Island by himself, Lanier said. He had come aboard on a bicycle. Another bag believed to belong to Reed was found aboard the Puyallup after the ferry docked and passengers disembarked.
Ferry railings are 42 inches high, and there is no record of anyone accidentally falling over one, Patterson said. However, people have jumped over the railings in suicides and suicide attempts.
"I think we obviously do what we can to make sure people don't climb up on them," Patterson said. "We make it so it's very difficult to accidentally fall off."
The Coast Guard minimum height for the rails on passenger vessels is 39½ inches, or about a meter.
"That's a simple measurement, but at the same time, it's a good, safe one to make sure people don't fall off," said John Dwyer, who oversees the Coast Guard's vessel-inspection team in Seattle.
Ian Ith can be reached at 206-464-2109 or at iith@seattletimes.com.

Wednesday, April 18, 2001
Fall from ferry may not have been an accident
The Coast Guard yesterday backed away from saying a man who fell off a Bainbridge-bound ferry Sunday did so accidentally. The State Patrol, which is investigating the incident with the Coast Guard, said the reason the man fell overboard and presumably died remains unknown and could be a suicide
"We just flat out don't know yet," patrol spokesman Glen Tyrrell said. Pat Patterson, spokeswoman for the ferry system, said witnesses have given conflicting reports of what happened before the man disappeared. Yesterday they continued to look into the background of Anthony W. Reed, 30, the Seattle man they believe fell or jumped overboard. While no body was recovered in the search Sunday night, authorities focused on Reed's identity after pulling a backpack from the water.

Wednesday, April 18, 2001 - 12:20 p.m.
Pacific Investigation continues in ferry accident
SEATTLE - It will take more investigation, and possibly interviewing witnesses again, to determine whether Anthony W. Reed jumped or fell off the ferry Puyallup as it was nearing Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island Sunday night. There is a third alternative as well. "It may never be resolved," if nothing more is learned, Joe Nortz, director of marine operations for state ferry system, said today.
Initially, it was believed that Reed, 30, jumped from the "pickle-fork" deck, above and at the rear of the car decks. However, other witnesses have said Reed may have fallen, which leaves the matter unresolved.
Ferry system officials, the Coast Guard and the Washington State Patrol are investigating. There is no way to tell how much longer the investigation will take, Nortz said.

Local News :
Friday, April 20, 2001
Bike messengers honor missing friend
By Ian Ith
Seattle Times staff reporter
Anthony Reed was a bike messenger by trade, and in the tight-knit circles of two-wheeled couriers in downtown Seattle, he had quite a name for himself.
"Tony, in a word, was just great," fellow bike messenger Peter Clark said yesterday. "He was extremely polite, always friendly, you never heard him say a cuss word, and he was always smiling."
So the entire community of bicycle messengers was stung by the news earlier this week that Reed was presumed drowned after plunging from a state ferry near Bainbridge Island on Sunday. They will say goodbye with a bike ride to the ferry dock this evening, followed by a ceremony aboard the ferry Puyallup.
"It's very difficult to believe that he's not around," said Clark, who is helping organize the event.
Investigators have not determined whether Reed, 30, jumped or accidentally fell from a rear deck of the ferry as it neared Eagle Harbor. His body has not been found.
Some witnesses said Reed was sitting on the railing before he fell, but others said he may have jumped.
Clark said his fellow bike messengers won't second-guess investigators, but they believe Reed's death was an accident.
"Tony was kind of an accident-prone fella," Clark said affectionately. "When he rode his bike, he'd ride it as hard as he could."
In fact, Clark said, fellow bikers called Reed "Toothless Tony" because of the many times he had kissed the pavement.
"He had a couple of front teeth missing, but he always had the biggest smile," Clark said. To help remember that smile, as many as 100 riders will gather at Victor Steinbrueck Park, near Pike Place Market, about 6 p.m., Clark said. Then the group will ride to the ferry dock and board the Puyallup for its 7 p.m. run to Bainbridge - the same run Reed was on when he went into the water. At the place where that happened, the bikers will hold a short ceremony.
They asked the ferry system to stop the boat there, but the Friday peak commute won't allow that, said ferry spokeswoman Patricia Patterson.
However, the Puyallup will slow to a crawl, and the captain will blow the horn in tribute to Reed, Patterson said.
If Reed's friends can get his bicycle, which he rode aboard the ferry the night he died, they want to toss it overboard, Clark said. Ferry officials, however, say that's probably not permissible.
"Tony loved his bike, and he loved to ride it," he said. "That's what made him the happiest."

"We are hoping that you join CAoS, the Courier Association of Seattle, and all bicycle couriers in the Pacific NW in remembering and saluting a good friend Tony Reed who turned up missing Sunday April 15th, 2001 while riding the Bainbridge Island ferry Puyallup. For five years Tony was known in the courier industry as the safety ambassador and always had a smile and love in his heart for all his friends. Tony's disappearance has caught us all off guard and left us with nothing but questions. We will miss you deeply Tony, and forever wonder about you. Happy travels....."

More information as it becomes available. You are missed Tony.


©ABCDzyne 04.23.01