BP Oil Spill: Gulf Coast Charter Boat Captain Commits Suicide

The psychological toll of the Deepwater Horizon spill came to a heartbreaking head last week when charter boat captain William Allen "Rookie" Kruse, 55, took his own life. On Wednesday, he was discovered on his boat by his crew with a gunshot wound to his head and a pistol nearby. According to U.S. World and Reports, "Kruse left behind a wife, two grown daughters, two young sons and a town full of broken hearts."

Kruse, known as "Rookie, " told friends, when they asked how he was doing, that he was "Fine." His family and friends consider him the 12th victim of the oil rig explosion, which killed 11 crew members.

Kruse, along with thousands of other locals, was hired by BP as part of their "cleanup and containment" flotilla. His 12-year-old stepson, Ryan Mistrot, was quoted in the LA Times as saying, "He told me he hated it. He hated going out for BP." He said Kruse didn't have one day off in two weeks. Despite the fact that Coast Guard Rear Adm. Thad Allen told the media that the apparent suicide of Kruse was not directly related to the cleanup duties, friends and family say the spill weighed heavily on him. Baldwin County coroner Stan Vinson said, ""He had been quite despondent about the oil crisis." Another grounded charter captain, Ty Fleming, interviewed at the Undertow Bar in Orange Beach, Alabama, said, "How can you deal with watching the oil kill every damn thing you ever lived for in your whole life?" His friend Charter Capt. Johnny Greene, said Kruse appeared "very upbeat" in early May and hoped the spill would be shut off by early May.

Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon, a friend of Kruse, said he had no doubt that the spill was to blame. "To think that we lost somebody because of a selfish, faceless, corrupt corporation's actions and I do attribute it directly to their actions. And an impotent, cowardly federal government that's just left us hanging down here, just makes me sick to my stomach."

According to family and friends, Kruse was very independent, self sufficient and proud. His twin brother Frank Kruse said his brother was "stressed and depressed, tangled in BP bureaucracy over claims and the cleanup." He said his brother had filed a 52-page invoice for $4,700 the Monday before his death with BP for two weeks' work, and expected BP to reject it. He added that Kruse's wife Tracy said he'd lost 30 pounds since the spill, going from 219 pounds to 180, was not sleeping, and was constantly worried about his livelihood and what was happening to his Gulf. "But for the oil spill, I don't think he would have done this," said his brother. Frank Kruse said the "relentless bureaucracy of BP" beat down his brother's spirit, that it was one hurdle after another. He said his brother may have feared that, in the end, the Gulf would be dead.

The last thing he said to his mother, Marolyn Kruse, after a discussion about money, was, "Don't worry about me mother, I'll be fine."

The Kruse family accepted BP's offer to pay for the funeral. A BP official came to the house Wednesday to offer counseling, and later sent a chaplain. When 12-year-old Ryan's uncles advised him to take his grief out on his punching bag, he replied, "I did. I knocked it over." And then he headed for the water.

Sources: Dallas News; Captain Commits Suicide; CBS5