Fishing boat smashes into Aurora Harbor slip, driver charged with DUI

There’s substantial damage at Aurora Harbor in Juneau after a 43-foot fishing vessel smashed its way into a slip on Monday.

“The report I got was that he rammed the dock pretty hard and hit a couple of vessels on the way in,” said Juneau Harbormaster Dave Borg.

He said he got a call around noon that the fishing vessel Nor’Gale was having trouble tying up.

“The north end of the harbor, our main float suffered some pretty significant damage. It broke some of the walers that hold everything in place and bent one of the 14-inch piles, steel piles, as well. So yeah, there was some pretty substantial damage,” Borg said.

Where it’s moored, the Nor’Gale had to make its way through a relatively narrow gauntlet of about 50 boat slips.

Orange traffic cones and yellow caution tape warn pedestrians of the splintered wood and gap in the main float where two sections are knocked out of alignment. Borg said another section of the float where concrete is smashed up was likely struck at 4 or 5 knots.

Juneau police arrested the boat’s driver, 51-year-old Darrin Hess. He was in court for an arraignment Tuesday and charged with misdemeanors for driving under the influence and refusing a breath test. Hess did not have a lawyer listed in online court records. He’s being held at Lemon Creek Correctional Center.

Borg said he doesn’t have a damage estimate yet. He said Docks and Harbors will pursue reimbursement from the party at fault. For now, the affected floats are still actually floating, but he said pedestrians should be careful of the tripping hazards.

Jeremy Hsieh

Local News Reporter, KTOO

I dig into questions about the forces and institutions that shape Juneau, big and small, delightful and outrageous. What stirs you up about how Juneau is built and how the city works?

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