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Seems odd. But who knows.

Did he zip himself up in a bag and leave himself in a bag?

'Has anyone got Jimmy McNulty's phone number?'

Shhiiiiiiiiit!

I think this is often missed when people jump to suspicious suicide conspiracies. I know a couple of people who while I wouldn't describe as true "whistle blowers" have pushed back and escalated controversial issues in large organisations. Both left not long after and their lives were made very difficult.

I can only imagine how unbelievably tough it would be if you were doing it at this level.

Jesus. That's nuts.

30,000 tons of cargo a day going nowhere

The bridge is over, the bridge is over, biddy-bye-bye!

They should have dredged the shipping channel like Frank Sobotka said.

Oh wow just watched the video. I assumed the ship was too tall or the water was higher than they thought or something but instead they drove it directly at one of the legs.

Hmm, the i-695 was the only Hazmat route across/under Baltimore Outer Harbour.

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It loses power and drifts off course then power comes back on again too late to stop it.

Ships that big can take like 3miles to slow down. They probably realised it was an ohshit moment at least 20mins before it hit

Sobotka had no suction.

It was less than 30 minutes in to its journey.

From this longer speeded up video of the minutes before, it looks like the ship suffered two power failures before impact. The result of the first was a change in direction when the power came back on briefly, then after the second failure it looks (to me) like it was just starting to correct its course but was too late. I may be wrong.

https://twitter.com/Truth68201238/status/1772534441593737582?t=7DmhlaB8veoCXQjpdrG97A&s=19

(Not the most reassuringly named twitter account, but hey)

Power issues are irrelevant, bridge wasn't wearing hi-vis.

that bridge looked vertically stiff but laterally compliant ( hope i got the old lfgss phrase right )

Was the boat leaning?

This guy knows his stuff.

calling bikes ships "she"

I went to Baltimore once, sketchiest place I've been in the US and that includes Detroit. We stayed in a nice hotel on the waterfront - walked 3 blocks to the nearest ATM and there was an armed guard posted outside. Also we went to a bar / party district and all the utilities were just provided by pipes and cables laid on top of the sidewalk. No wonder their bridge was made of meccano

No wonder their bridge was made of meccano

I know that's a joke but it really isn't, truss bridges are incredibly strong.

I have to say, I find it a bit suspicious.

The legal settlement case was nearly over, he was drawing a pension so he was not also at risk financially.

But yes whistle-blowing means your life will be made HARD and it takes true courage.

there was an armed guard posted outside

That could just be US gun culture. There are normal clothing shops in normal malls in normal towns across the US that have armed guards at the door.

But in Baltimore, it definitely reflects the banks’ assessment of the neighbourhood.

this was when The Wire was massive (set in Baltimore)