BY DAVE HURLEY
MOSS LANDING – Two days after the Moss Landing launch ramp was extremely busy due to the short two-day salmon opener, a boat collision near the harbor entrance turned deadly where two combatants were allegedly fought, and one man was struck with an oar, falling into the water and perishing.
According to KSBW Action News, “A fishing outing in Moss Landing turned deadly after two fishermen got into a fight, and one of them ended up in the water. His body was discovered hours later. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office identified him as 26-year-old Trenten Paul Black of Aptos. Sheriff’s investigators say Black got into an altercation with another boater and started fighting near the harbor entrance.
“At one point, there was a report that one person from one boat was able to board the second boat and that some type of physical confrontation was happening,” said Andres Rosas, spokesman for the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office. “At one point, someone picked up a paddle, possibly the same one that was taken as evidence by investigators combing through one of the boats. And began assaulting the other individual at this point, we’re trying to determine who was assaulting who, which individual went from one boat to the other,” Rosas said.
One of the fishermen fell into the water, initiating an all-out search involving the Coast Guard and the sheriff’s dive team, with kayakers even helping with the search effort. Just before 1:30, with the help of Coast Guard sonar divers, they located Black’s body in about 20 feet of water. “We don’t want to speculate as to what happened we don’t know if this was something that maybe originally started out in the ocean, we don’t know if there was an accident or if there was an intentional act, that is part of our investigation, we want to talk to the one individual that we know was involved in this and try to get as much information from that individual as possible,” Rosas said. That individual has not been identified, and the department spokesman said he has not been arrested, and he is not considered a suspect at this time. An autopsy expected to be completed this week should reveal the cause Black’s death.”
Two families will never be the same after 10 minutes of rage ended with tragic consequences.
