Joseph Jeffrey Hazelwood (September 24, 1946 – c. July 22, 2022 ) was an American sailor. He was the captain of Exxon Valdez during her 1989 oil spill . He was accused of being intoxicated which contributed to the disaster, but was cleared of this charge at his 1990 trial after witnesses testified that he was sober around the time of the accident. Hazelwood was convicted of a lesser charge, negligent discharge of oil (a misdemeanor), fined $ 50,000, and sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service .
26-600: Hazelwood was born in Hawkinsville, Georgia , and raised in Huntington, Long Island, New York . His father, Joseph, was a United States Marine Corps torpedo bomber pilot turned airline pilot. His mother, Margaret, was born in Georgia. Hazelwood was their first-born son. He was married in 1969 to Suzanne and had one daughter, Alison (born 1975). In 1964, Hazelwood graduated from Huntington High School , where his IQ
52-483: A clumsy person who spilled things in various stages of his life; as a baby (his cup), teenager (pen ink in his shirt pocket), and ultimately as an adult, driving into a water tower. In the 1995 film Waterworld , Hazelwood was anointed the patron saint of the movie's villain "The Deacon", leader of the "Smokers", a band of scavenging raiders. The film displayed Hazelwood's portrait prominently aboard their flagship, also called Exxon Valdez . The ship also seemed to have
78-431: A large stockpile of booze as "The Deacon" is seen holding an old Jack Daniel's bottle. The 311 song "Fat Chance" mentions Hazelwood. Hawkinsville, Georgia Hawkinsville is a city in and the county seat of Pulaski County , Georgia , United States. The population was 3,980 in 2020. Hawkinsville is known as the "Harness Horse Capital" of Georgia. The Lawrence Bennett Harness Horse Racing facility
104-551: A result of the accident, in 1991 the United States Coast Guard suspended his masters' license for a period of nine months. Hazelwood never had his master's license revoked and it remained valid, but he was unable to find long-term work as a captain after the spill. His alma mater, SUNY Maritime College , hired him in a show of solidarity as a teacher aboard the T/S Empire State V the year after
130-549: Is owned by the city and serves as an important training ground during winter months. The Harness Festival takes place every April at the end of training before horses head north for the harness racing season. Hawkinsville was founded in 1830. In 1837, the seat of Pulaski County was transferred to Hawkinsville from Hartford . The community was named for Benjamin Hawkins , delegate to the Continental Congress, and
156-609: The 2020 United States census , there were 3,980 people, 1,304 households, and 812 families residing in the city. The Pulaski County School District holds grades pre-school to grade twelve. It consists of one elementary school, a middle school, and a high school. The district has 122 full-time teachers and over 1,632 students. The Georgia Department of Corrections operates the Pulaski State Prison in Hawkinsville. The United States Postal Service operates
182-474: The Exxon Valdez at 8:25 p.m. His blood alcohol content was found to be .061. However, the defense argued that the blood samples were taken nearly ten hours after the incident and were mishandled. Most states, including Alaska, do not allow samples after three hours, and a preservative required to halt fermentation was not added to the sample. Fermentation could have added to the amount of alcohol in
208-591: The port of Valdez, Alaska , at 9:12 p.m. on March 23, 1989, with 53 million gallons of crude oil bound for California. A harbor pilot guided the ship through the Valdez Narrows before departing the ship and returning control to Hazelwood, the ship's master. The ship maneuvered out of the outbound traffic lane in the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) to avoid icebergs. Following the maneuver and sometime after 11 p.m., Hazelwood departed
234-659: The Hawkinsville Post Office. The United States Air Force operates the Hawkinsville Air Force Space Surveillance System . Criminal mischief Mischief or malicious mischief is the name for a class of criminal offenses that is defined differently in different legal jurisdictions. While the wrongful acts will often involve what is popularly described as vandalism , there can be a legal differentiation between vandalism and mischief. The etymology of
260-660: The South by missionaries from the first black independent denomination in the United States, founded in the early 19th century in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . The Hawkinsville Commercial and Industrial Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Hawkinsville is also home to the historic Hawkinsville Opera House . Many highways converge in the city. U.S. Routes 129 and 341 are
286-819: The United States Indian Agent in the Southeast, appointed by President George Washington . The city includes Hawkinsville High School and several historical sites , including Hawkinsville City Hall-Auditorium , Hawkinsville Public School , the Merritt-Ragan House , the Pulaski County Courthouse , and Taylor Hall . St. Thomas African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized after the American Civil War as one of hundreds of AME churches planted in
SECTION 10
#1732781116089312-598: The city to Cochran , 11 mi (18 km) to the northeast. Other highways that run through the city include Georgia State Routes 26 , 27 , 230 , and 257 . According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 4.4 square miles (11 km ), of which 4.4 square miles (11 km ) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km ) (1.57%) is water. Hawkinsville has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfa ), with mild winters and hot, humid summers. As of
338-422: The discharge of around 11 million gallons of oil, 20% of the cargo, into Prince William Sound . Exxon fired Hazelwood following the accident. During Hazelwood's trial, Alaska state prosecutors failed to convince the jury that Hazelwood was intoxicated at the time of the grounding. By his own admission, Hazelwood drank "two or three vodkas" between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. that same night, before boarding
364-513: The incident with the Valdez . In 1997, he was working as a para-legal and maritime consultant with New York City's Chalos & Brown, the firm that represented him in his legal cases. He was residing in his native Long Island as of 1997. In 1999, he was in Anchorage performing his community service sentence. Though he was originally sentenced to assist with the clean-up of the oil spill, due to
390-654: The lengthy appeals process, his community service was conducted in the Anchorage , Alaska area, beginning in June 1999 picking up trash from local roads, later moving to Bean's Cafe, a local soup kitchen . His community service was conducted over five years with the Anchorage Parks Beautification Program. He paid the $ 50,000 fine in May 2002. In 2009, Hazelwood offered a "heartfelt apology" to
416-507: The navigation bridge and was in his stateroom at the time of the accident. He left Third Mate Gregory Cousins in charge of the navigation bridge and Able Seaman Robert Kagan at the helm with instructions from the third mate to return to the southbound traffic lane in the TSS at a prearranged point. Exxon Valdez failed to return to the shipping lanes and struck Bligh Reef at around 12:04 a.m. on March 24, 1989. The accident resulted in
442-629: The offence to be committed; financial damage consequential to the act is sufficient, unlike vandalism which requires actual damage to property to form the offence, the latter being defined by section 52 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 . In United States criminal law , mischief is an offense against property that typically involves the intentional or reckless infliction of damage , defacement , alteration , or destruction of property . Common forms include vandalism and graffiti . Governed by state law , criminal mischief
468-549: The people of Alaska, but suggested he had been wrongly blamed for the disaster: "The true story is out there for anybody who wants to look at the facts, but that's not the sexy story and that's not the easy story," he said. Hazelwood said he felt Alaskans always gave him a fair shake. The apology appears in an interview in the book The Spill: Personal Stories from the Exxon Valdez Disaster by Sharon Bushell. Hazelwood died on July 21, 2022, but no further information
494-416: The sample, making the result invalid. In March 1990 he was acquitted of second-degree criminal mischief , of operating a vessel while intoxicated and of reckless endangerment ; he was however convicted of misdemeanor negligence for discharging oil, fined $ 50,000, and sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service . After eight years of ultimately unsuccessful appeals, he started community service in 1999. As
520-487: The ship's mast including radar and radio communications antennas. Though the crew was prepared to abandon ship, Hazelwood rallied them and guided the ship to safety. In 1987, he became the alternate master of Exxon Valdez which subsequently received Exxon Fleet safety awards for the year of 1987 and 1988. Hazelwood said that he was diagnosed with a form of "depression, characterized by episodic abuse of alcohol". His driver's license had been suspended or revoked three times by
546-562: The state of New York for alcohol violations since 1984. He entered a rehabilitation program in 1985 at South Oaks Hospital in Amityville, New York . Following rehabilitation he received 90 days of leave to attend Alcoholics Anonymous . At the time of the Exxon Valdez incident in March 1989, his New York state driving privileges were suspended as a result of a driving under the influence arrest on September 13, 1988. Exxon Valdez departed
SECTION 20
#1732781116089572-525: The two main highways through town, and run through the downtown area together. Upon leaving the city, U.S. 341 leads northwest 21 mi (34 km) to Perry along Interstate 75 and southeast 20 mi (32 km) to Eastman . U.S. 129 follows the route of U.S. 341 north of the city, but splits off northwest of downtown, leading north 28 mi (45 km) to Warner Robins . South of downtown, U.S. 129 leads south 24 mi (39 km) to Abbeville . In addition, an alternate route of U.S. 129 connects
598-474: The word comes from Old French meschief , which means "misfortune", from meschever , "to end badly". The country's Criminal Code makes mischief a hybrid offence , punishable by up to and including life imprisonment if the mischief causes actual danger to human life. Public mischief is the term for the crime of wasting police time . Malicious mischief is an offence against the common law of Scotland . It does not require actual damage to property for
624-521: Was Esso Florence homeported in Wilmington, North Carolina . Hazelwood climbed the ranks of the merchant marine until he obtained a master's license at age 31. By age 32, he was the youngest captain working for Exxon when he took command of Exxon Philadelphia , a California-to-Alaska oil tanker, in 1978. In 1985 he was master of Exxon Chester when the asphalt carrier ran into a storm during her New York to South Carolina trip. High winds damaged
650-454: Was given. At the time of his death, he had been ill from cancer and COVID-19 . Following the Exxon Valdez incident, Hazelwood was ridiculed by talk shows and late night television. He was the subject of a "Top Ten" list on Late Night with David Letterman , in which one of his excuses was, "I was just trying to scrape some ice off the reef for my margarita." He was featured in the syndicated comic strip The Far Side , which showed him as
676-527: Was reportedly tested at 138. As a youth he was an avid sailor and was a member of the Sea Scouts . In May 1968, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in marine transportation from the State University of New York Maritime College . Following college, on June 10, 1968, he was hired as a Third Mate by Humble Oil and Refining Company, which later became Exxon Shipping Company. His first ship
#88911