Retired Coast Guard officer struck at Pompano Boat Ramp

By KREIG KOHL

On Nov. 10, while walking home from his routine workout, retired Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Barry Chambers, 81, was struck by a motor vehicle exiting the boat ramp near Pompano Street in Port Isabel. A police investigation was started and is still ongoing as of the time of this article’s publishing.
Speaking on behalf of Lt. Commander Chambers, Alejandro Cabanas, 39, Weslaco Texas, said of the event, “I was at work in New York when I got a phone call that he had been struck by a truck during his afternoon walk.” Many witnesses told Cabanas that the driver of the truck had been looking behind him at his trailer as he exited the boat ramp and not ahead towards the street he was entering, according to him.
“He had a fractured skull so they had him in the ICU,” Cabanas continued, “but they said he was stable and he was doing good. They sent me a video of him calling my name. He was a strong man, not your average 81-year-old.” A neighbor then visited Lt. Commander Chambers and told Cabanas a different story.
“She said ‘Alex, he’s not doing good. You need to fly down here now.’,” he recounted.
Cabanas stayed with Chambers every day in the ICU until he passed on Nov. 23. Noticing there was no news article on the accident and not hearing from the police department, Cabanas called down to the police department on Nov. 20. The department told him the incident was still under investigation, according to Cabanas.
He went to the police department himself to check on the case and discover what was being done, representing Lt. Commander Chambers, as he was the retired lieutenant’s power of attorney. Cabanas claims that the department did not perform a blood test or breathalyzer on the driver of the vehicle, which is required due to a state law put into effect last year.
Cabanas was very upset with the response he found from the police with the investigation.
“The neighbors around Barry Chambers are close friends of his and they all know I was like a son to Mr. Chambers, and they were all witnesses when we went and signed all the legal documents,” said Cabanas.
“They said we have a caseload,” Cabanas continued, “and I said he’s on his deathbed right now.”
Cabanas went to the location of the event and spoke to witnesses as well as took photos of the tiremarks and the distance from the ramp to where Barry had been struck.
“If you go out there and take pictures from where he got hit to where the boat ramp is, it’s probably 20 yards away,” Cabanas claimed. “I understand when you’re at the ramp you’ve got your hood up high and can’t see ahead of you.”
According to Cabanas, Barry was thrown back twelve to thirteen feet, further than he should have been based on the speed limit of the ramp.
“The witness screamed at him and yelled ‘Stop! Stop!’ and the driver finally comes to a stop,” Cabanas recounted.
Barry was already bleeding from his skull by the time the witness returned with a towel to help staunch the bleeding. The witness told Cabanas that none of the police on scene had trauma kits with them.
An autopsy has been ordered for Lt. Commander Chambers by the department, according to Cabanas, and his body has not been released yet for burial.
“I’m still here. I’m still in town. I can’t leave until I put him to rest,” Cabanas commented.
Cabanas emphasized that boaters need to pay attention when exiting boat load ramps as it could be a child or any pedestrian in the path.
Port Isabel Chief of Police Robert Lopez, 58, said, “The driver of the vehicle, we brought him to our office and spoke to him. He at no time had any alcohol in his body. We spoke to him at length…He was barely going fishing. There was nothing to warrant a breathalyzer.”
The day of the incident, detectives brought the driver into the station after Emergency Medical Services had arrived on scene and assisted Lt. Commander Chambers.
“We took both sides of the story and we came up with the conclusion that it was an accident,” said Lopez.
In regards to the law requiring blood tests for drivers striking pedestrians Chief Lopez said, “I’m not familiar with it, I will have to look into that. There was no evidence of any alcohol that we could pinpoint on the driver. He pulled forward because he was crooked on the boat ramp, and when he pulled forward, the gentleman was walking in front of his truck and he struck him. It was an accident.”