Ship master, convicted of being drunk, faces deportation
Capt. Janos Gyori, master of the 214-foot-long, Panamanian-flagged freighter 'General Lee,' was convicted last week in Norfolk, Va., of operating a commercial vessel while under the influence of alcohol. He was fined $3,000 and ordered not to bring a vessel into U.S. waters for one year.
The U.S. Coast Guard arrested Gyori Jan. 11 after his ship failed to stop 12 miles off the Virginia coast for a security check. Gyori, who did not respond to the Coast Guard over the radio, subsequently failed six sobriety tests and refused to cooperate with a breath test. Under U.S. regulations, a person refusing a chemical test when directed by a law enforcement officer is considered intoxicated.
During the trial, Gyori, a Hungarian citizen, testified that he only drank four beers and part of another the night before he took the helm at 4 a.m.
'Commercial vessels are held to a higher standard under U.S. regulations for very good reasons,' said Bob O'Brien, Coast Guard captain of the Port of Hampton Roads. 'This vessel was carrying thousands of gallons of heavy fuel oil and would have passed through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, and the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel. The master's intoxicated state put his vessel and the port at high risk of a serious accident.'
U.S. immigration officials are processing Gyori, 52, for deportation.