When assigning blame, they need to ask two questions:

1. If the sailboat's running lights were on, would the woman still be alive?

Answer: Maybe, maybe not. The power boat may have been able to see the sailboat without them, or the powerboat may not have noticed them even if they were on.

2. If the cop had been driving at a SAFE speed, would the woman still be alive?

Answer: Definitely YES. By definition, a safe speed is the speed at which you can avoid a serious accident. Even if the collision had occurred anyway, the damage would have been minimal, and the woman would have survived.

Therefore, the guilt should be left to the juries to decide; but as for charges filed, the crooked cop should have been the first one charged!

A similar case occurred in downtown Indianapolis a few years ago when a joy-riding cop (no lights or siren, maybe even no headlights) blew through a stoplight and killed a kid driving on the cross street. At first the police department claimed he was on a "silent run", till it came out there was no such run dispatched. The cop walked away with no charges filed, because it could not be proven that the kid did not die as a result of negligence on the part of the ambulance technician who treated him! (Completely disregarding the fact that he wouldn't have needed treatment if the cop hadn't creamed him!)