This review of Ed Wieten’s deposition is part of our much larger coverage of the Michael Meyer v. Carnival Cruise Lines et al. case resulting from a catamaran propeller accident on a cruise ship shore excursion.

Ed Wieten (Joannes Clemens Wieten) from Curacao in the Caribbean was also a passenger on the Tango Too the day of Michael Meyer’s accident.

Most of our coverage of these depositions comes from legal documents in PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records). We encourage those who wish to study the case more in depth to establish a PACER account and view the original records. Fees are typically about a dime a page.

As we have covered some previous passengers comments more in depth, we will only be listing his comments that add additional information to the case.

Ed Wieten Deposition

Mr. Wieten has pretty good English, but preferred to go through a translator. The translator will translate the questions into his native language, he will answer in his native language, and the translator will translate his response to English.

Several passengers reference a black military medic tending to Mr. Meyer, we are left to guess they were probably referring to Mr. Wieten.

Examination by Michael Eriksen for Plaintiff

Mr. Wieten is Dutch and is a police officer. He, his wife, and two daughters were on the cruise ship. All four family members went on the catamaran excursion.

At times Mr. Wieten answered questions directly in English. His family was sitting near the Meyer family in the back of the boat.

Mr. Wieten heard Mrs. Meyer yell, a crew member from the front of the boat came running to the back, the crew member pulled up the hatch of the propeller compartment, and Wieten heard him say out loud, “oh my God, stop the Engines.” Wieten thought he was saying that to the guys in the front of the boat.

Wieten could see lots of blood in the water, the threw a life jacket into the water, then jumped in to help save Meyer. A few seconds later, two crew members jumped in.

At first, Mr. Meyer clung to the anchor rope near the stern, but they got him to turn loose and were able to get him to shore where they stabilized him a little. Wieten took some ropes and tied his legs to try to stop the bleeding.

When the crew member raised the hatch, Wieten looked in and saw blood.

Tango Too engine compartment

When they got Meyer to shore Wieten asked people to bring some rope from the boat, but no one did, so he went back onboard and retrieved some rope tie off Meyer’s legs with. (pgs.24,25).

After tying off his legs, Wieten went back to his family because he thought they might need comforted after seeing some of this.

At a later time Wieten asked the boat manager, the attendant what he could do with his two complaints. One being about noise in his cabin on the cruise ship, the other about witnessing the accident on the catamaran. They told him they could charge back his credit card $90 and he would have to wait till he got back to Curacao to make his complaints if he wanted a larger refund. (pgs.35,36)

Cross-examination by Bob Oldershaw for Carnival

This was Wieten’s first cruise.

Cross-examination by Rachael Mitchell for Cox

Wieten found it difficult to get Meyer to shore because he was heavy and screaming and yelling. (pgs.64,65).

Re-direct Mike Eriksen for Plaintiff

Wieten thinks the propellers were moving to have caused the injuries he saw on Meyer.

Recross Examination by Oldershaw for Carnival

Wieten knew the tour was being run by a local operator.

When asked if he had seen someone struck by a propeller before, Wieten said he had seen someone struck by a train. He sees a lot of injuries as a police officer.

Redirect Eriksen for Plaintiff

After Wieten entered the water, he saw nothing else that could have caused Meyer’s injuries besides a moving propeller.

Mr. Wieten was going to think about waiving his rights to review the deposition for errors.