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Last updated March 26, 2007 4:03 p.m. PT

Coast Guard officer died from propeller injuries
By CASEY MCNERTHNEY
P-I REPORTER

The King County medical examiner identified Ronald Gill as the Coast Guard petty officer who died of injuries he suffered falling out of a fast-response boat Sunday.

Gill, 26, of Cranston, R.I., was on Puget Sound north of Vashon Island when he fell from a 25-foot-long boat at about 2:15 p.m. The medical examiner said he hit the boat's propeller, which caused skull fractures, cerebral lacerations and cerebral contusions.

The vessel was one of two such boats from the Coast Guard maritime safety and security team involved in the exercise. Gill and other officers were doing security patrols and training when the accident occurred.

A Coast Guard spokesman said he thinks Gill may have been sitting on the bow, but on Monday did not disclose exactly what caused the fall.

A third response boat was operating in the area and came to the petty officer's aid, taking him to the Fauntleroy ferry terminal in West Seattle.

People waiting for a ferry to Vashon Island watched as the Coast Guard brought Gill back to the dock. Emotional officers hugged each other as he was put on a gurney, and paramedics took over rescue efforts.

The Seattle Fire Department rushed him to Harborview Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The fast-response boats are nicknamed "defenders" and have become highly visible symbols of the Coast Guard's security efforts since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Washington State Ferries Spokeswoman Marta Coursey said Monday there were no ferry delays because of the accident. Coast Guard security operations were not interrupted Sunday, a spokesman said.

:-X15