Ship pilot to retire as probe into crash continues

[July 02, 2008]  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A container ship pilot will retire rather than testify at a hearing on his conduct when a vessel he was piloting struck a bridge support tower last year, creating the worst oil spill in San Francisco Bay in nearly two decades.

Capt. John Cota said in a letter to state licensing authorities that he is ending his career because the multiple investigations into his actions left him "in an impossible situation."

Investigators have been probing whether Cota's sleep disorder or medications contributed to the accident. He has been charged with lying about his medical record, his licenses have been suspended and he is a subject of several lawsuits related to the Nov. 7 spill.

"I have only one option and that is to retire effective Oct. 1, 2008," Cota wrote in the letter to the State Board of Pilot Commissioners dated June 23.

Cota was piloting the 900-foot cargo ship Cosco Busan when it sideswiped the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, opening a gash in its hull and leaking 53,000 gallons of toxic fuel that killed and injured thousands of birds.

After the spill, the commissioners accused Cota of misconduct, and a hearing before an administrative law judge was scheduled for September.

Cota's attorney, John Meadows, said the federal charges would have led Cota to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at the hearing.

"The federal criminal case is such a delicate matter that he doesn't want to jeopardize his position by anything he would testify to in the administrative case," Meadows said Tuesday by telephone.

K. Michael Miller, president of the San Francisco Board of Pilot Commissioners, said Tuesday that the board had not yet decided whether to cancel the September hearing.

Cota, 60, has pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor environmental crimes and two felony charges of lying to the Coast Guard about his medical record. If convicted, he could face jail time and fines.

In his letter, Cota said the Coast Guard had ruled his sleep disorder "a disqualifying medical condition," but he notes it was being treated and controlled with appropriate medication prescribed by a sleep specialist.

Sleep apnea is a breathing condition that can disrupt sleep and leave sufferers severely fatigued. Cota took Provigil to ward off drowsiness, and its known side effects include impaired judgment.

Under Coast Guard policy, a sleep disorder can be grounds for disqualification, but is not automatically so.

A spokesman for the Coast Guard in Washington did not immediately return phone calls late Tuesday.

Neither Miller nor Cota's lawyer knew the exact annual amount of pension Cota would collect.

Cota has 27 years of pension credit, and pilots association financial records show the average San Francisco bar pilot was paid $450,673 in 2007.

Pensions are determined by a complex formula set by state law and based on a percentage of the retiring pilot's income over his last five years of service. That means Cota probably would collect well over $150,000 per year.

[Associated Press; By SCOTT LINDLAW]

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