Minutes before he was going into court to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter, Matthew Devlin, the tugboat mate involved in last summer's duck boat accident, was confronted by a victim of the deadly crash.
An NBC10 producer watched as Devlin was sitting in a nearly deserted hallway with his wife, when an unidentified woman walked up to him and asked him his name.
When Devlin learned the woman was a victim, he apologized, and hugged her.
“Matt hugged her and she hugged Matt,” Devlin’s lawyer Frank DeSimone later told NBC10.
The unidentified woman asked Devlin how his son was. Devlin allegedly used his cell phone and a laptop numerous times to deal with a medical emergency involving his 5-year-old son in the moments leading up to the crash last July that killed two Hungarian tourists.
Devlin and his wife tearfully told the woman their son was OK before asking the NBC10 producer who was observing to give them some time.
When Devlin got into court, things were almost as emotional. At one point Devlin told the judge, "I wish that I could take it all back… I just wasn't thinking clearly after getting the news"
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The news that Devlin is referring to: he told the judge his son "went eight minutes without oxygen during a normal surgery."
Devlin told the judge that since the accident, he now suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and is being treated by a psychiatrist.
After the nearly hour long hearing in federal court in which Devlin pleaded guilty to one charge of misconduct of a ship operator causing death, he wouldn't talk to reporters.
DeSimone did talk to NBC10 about the emotional meeting:
“He was emotional and she was emotional.”
“Matt’s not an ogre, this wasn’t something he planned on doing.”
Judge Legrome D. Davis scheduled the sentencing for Matthew Devlin for Nov. 1. He faces a maximum jail sentence of 10 years and a maximum fine of $250,000.
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