SalemNews.com, Salem, MA
Mobile Beta
News
Salem 'boat rage' leads to attempted-murder charge
Published: August 13, 2007
SALEM - Police said an act of "boat rage" was caught on videotape, as a pontoon boat rammed a black motorboat at the approach to the ramp of the former Kernwood Marina yesterday.
The drama on the Danvers River was also witnessed by Jim West of Beverly, who said he saw a pontoon boat twice ram the motorboat before both occupants got into what he described as a wrestling match.
"This is the first, and I hope it's the last" time he has witnessed such a scene, he said. "Boat rage," he called it.
The incident, reported around 5:45 p.m., left a Salem man with his T-shirt ripped from his shoulder, bite marks on his arm and scratches on the stern of the boat, and a Danvers man held in the Salem police station on $10,000 cash bail, charged with attempted murder.
Ronald J. Phillips, 53, of 57 River St., Danvers, who Salem Harbormaster Peter Gifford said is the owner of Riverside Marina in Danvers, faces a host of charges today in Salem District Court. In addition to a charge of attempted murder, Phillips is being arraigned on two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon - a pontoon boat; malicious destruction of property valued at more than $250; simple assault and battery; operating a motorboat negligently on a public waterway; and failing to report a boat accident to law enforcement officers, Salem police Lt. Paul Lemelin said.
"He struck the boat twice and he made statements he was going to kill him," said Lemelin about what happened to the victim, Manny Silva, 45, of 13 Clifton Ave., Salem, that led to the attempted murder charge.
"Whatever they tell you," was Silva's only comment about the incident, as he hauled his boat out of the water, up the boat ramp and into the parking lot. "I'm going to the hospital."
Gifford said security cameras caught the incident and it clearly showed the motorboat being struck twice. Gifford said he has never seen such a thing.
"We have got a movie clip that clearly shows the pontoon boat on top of the other one," Gifford said.
"The pontoon boat came out of nowhere, he came out at a high rate of speed," said West, who watched as the pontoon boat drove up onto the back of the motorboat waiting to be put on trailer. The second time that happened, a tussle ensued.
The drama on the Danvers River was also witnessed by Jim West of Beverly, who said he saw a pontoon boat twice ram the motorboat before both occupants got into what he described as a wrestling match.
"This is the first, and I hope it's the last" time he has witnessed such a scene, he said. "Boat rage," he called it.
The incident, reported around 5:45 p.m., left a Salem man with his T-shirt ripped from his shoulder, bite marks on his arm and scratches on the stern of the boat, and a Danvers man held in the Salem police station on $10,000 cash bail, charged with attempted murder.
Ronald J. Phillips, 53, of 57 River St., Danvers, who Salem Harbormaster Peter Gifford said is the owner of Riverside Marina in Danvers, faces a host of charges today in Salem District Court. In addition to a charge of attempted murder, Phillips is being arraigned on two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon - a pontoon boat; malicious destruction of property valued at more than $250; simple assault and battery; operating a motorboat negligently on a public waterway; and failing to report a boat accident to law enforcement officers, Salem police Lt. Paul Lemelin said.
"He struck the boat twice and he made statements he was going to kill him," said Lemelin about what happened to the victim, Manny Silva, 45, of 13 Clifton Ave., Salem, that led to the attempted murder charge.
"Whatever they tell you," was Silva's only comment about the incident, as he hauled his boat out of the water, up the boat ramp and into the parking lot. "I'm going to the hospital."
Gifford said security cameras caught the incident and it clearly showed the motorboat being struck twice. Gifford said he has never seen such a thing.
"We have got a movie clip that clearly shows the pontoon boat on top of the other one," Gifford said.
"The pontoon boat came out of nowhere, he came out at a high rate of speed," said West, who watched as the pontoon boat drove up onto the back of the motorboat waiting to be put on trailer. The second time that happened, a tussle ensued.
"The guy from the small boat jumped on the pontoon boat and they were wrestling, a cage match. It was stupid," West said. "Where are you going to go? I wonder what happened before this."
"A boat rammed another boat on purpose," said McCabe Marina manager Brenda Watson. "I'm not going to say anymore because it's under investigation."
Assistant Salem Harbormaster Steve Levesque responded to a report of a boat accident and a fight.
"The gentleman with the torn T-shirt has a bite mark on his arm," Levesque said.
After the fight, Phillips navigated his pontoon boat down the Danvers River but the Beverly harbormaster apprehended him. The pontoon boat was taken back to McCabe Marina. The Danvers harbormaster was called to block the river, but Phillips never made it that far, Gifford said.
Lemelin said he had been told the dispute arose because Phillips might have been jealous of Silva's new boat, but Gifford said he's skeptical about that explanation.
"What the whole underlying fight is, there is more to it than that," Gifford said.
