U.S. Cruise Passenger Pays $1,100 After Nassau Window Damage
A retired police officer who witnessed the confrontation called police, while fellow tourists helped the passenger raise the payment for the shattered window.
A U.S. cruise passenger was arrested in downtown Nassau after breaking a car’s side window during a confrontation with a local driver, according to The Tribune. The visitor paid the motorist $1,100 after police offered him the choice of covering the damage or facing charges.
The dispute unfolded on Bay Street as the passenger tried to halt traffic for a convoy of ATVs. The passenger’s identity, the cruise ship involved and the date of the incident were not released.
The Tribune’s account described the driver edging forward while the passenger stood in the street and shouted angrily at him. The passenger eventually stepped aside, then punched the side window as the car passed, breaking the glass.
A retired police officer witnessed the confrontation and called police, who arrested the passenger. Fellow tourists helped him raise the $1,100. Eyewitness News Bahamas also published video of the window being smashed.
The driver, who asked not to be named, told The Tribune: “I told the guy that if I had done what he did in his country I probably would have got shot.”
In other cases involving American cruise passengers in the Bahamas, minor marijuana charges have resulted in fines ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars instead of jail time. Six American tourists in a more serious case collectively paid more than $52,000 after multiple fights in which several police officers were injured.
