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"Blossom D" skipper arrested for DUI Saturday

KDLG

William E. Sanchez, 56, taken into custody for DUI Saturday. The F/V Blossom D was towed into harbor by Good Samaritan vessels who say a highly intoxicated Sanchez "bumped" into them at Queen's Slough.

KDLG: State troopers, Dillingham police, and half a dozen or more volunteer EMS and firefighters responded to the small boat harbor Saturday morning on confusing reports of a distressed vessel being towed across the Nushagak Bay.

According to a state trooper affidavit, William E. Sanchez, skipper of the F/V Blossom D, was highly intoxicated, prompting Good Samaritan vessels to commandeer his vessel and tow it in.

The captain and crew of one of the Good Samaritan vessels told troopers that the Blossom D bumped into their boat in Queen's Slough, and that Sanchez was "having a hard time following their instructions."

A crewman on the Blossom D said he had woke up that morning to find the boat had taken on several inches of water. They were anchored near Protection Point, but apparently motored over to Queen's Slough by mid-morning.

Trooper Gordon Young said Sanchez had "poor balance, slurred speech, bloodshot watery eyes, and a strong odor of alcohol" on his breath. Sanchez refused field sobriety tests, and after his arrest, refused to provide a breath sample.

Young wrote that Sanchez made a crude remark about the only breath sample the trooper would get off him involved flatulence and the breath tube being inserted into another orifice.

He was booked on one count of DUI and one count of failure to submit to a chemical test, then released on his own recognizance.

Reach the author at dave@kdlg.org or 907.842.5281.

Credit KDLG
Some of the volunteers who responded Saturday on reports that there was a distressed vessel or ill skipper coming into the harbor. The Blossom D was towed in by two other boats.

Credit KDLG
William E. Sanchez was taken into custody Saturday on allegations he was skippering his vessel while under the influence of alcohol.