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Tugboat captain arrested after collision PDF Print E-mail
Monday, 25 August 2008 12:16
By Robert Zullo
Staff Writer

Published: Friday, August 22, 2008 at 3:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, August 22, 2008 at 3:46 p.m.

Emily Schwarze/Staff
James Laughlin’s 28-foot skiff was hit by a tugboat Thursday in lower Dulac, a collision that resulted in the tugboat captain’s arrest on multiple charges.
DULAC — A 38-year-old Lockport tugboat captain was arrested Thursday after he allegedly passed out at the wheel, ran his boat onto a mud bank and struck a docked fishing vessel in Bayou Grand Caillou.

Ronnie Stevens, the captain of the Trey Paul, a push boat hauling two barges loaded with oilfield equipment, is charged with second-offense DWI, hit and run and reckless operation of a boat. Stevens is also charged with possession of Zaliphen, a sleeping medication and a schedule IV controlled dangerous substance, authorities said. Stevens was pulled off the tug and arrested after he hit a boat owned by 50-year-old James Laughlin, who lives along the bayou just south of the Falgout Canal Bridge. Laughlin, a commercial fisherman, said he had planned to take the boat shrimping and was coming back from a grocery trip in Houma when he saw U.S. Coast Guard and Terrebonne Sheriff’s Water Patrol boats in the bayou near his 28-foot Lafitte skiff.

“When we came back down we seen the commotion outside the house,” Laughlin said.

Stevens appeared intoxicated when he saw him at the door to the tugboat’s wheel house, he added.

“He was mumbling and staring off into the wild blue yonder,” Laughlin said. “When they took him off that boat, I could tell he was messed up pretty bad.”

Apart from a few visible scratches, Laughlin said he won’t know the full extent of the damage until he has the boat taken out of the water for an inspection. Since the boat was moored with the stern facing out when it was hit by the northbound tugboat’s starboard side, he fears the rudder may have been damaged. Laughlin said he and his neighbors are fortunate Stevens hit what locals call a “mud flap” before the wayward barges and tugboat could cause serious damage. “He’s lucky he ain’t killed nobody,” Laughlin said. “That could have been real serious.”

The boat, owned by LA Carriers of Cut Off, was hauling the equipment for a Houma broker, Caillou Island Towing, according to John Plaisance, a manager with LA Carriers.

Plaisance said Thursday afternoon he had little information about the collision

“We’re still investigating ourselves,” he said.

He did not return subsequent phone calls.

Staff Writer Robert Zullo can be reached at 850-1150 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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