The fishermen on Discovery Channel’s reality series Deadliest Catch face no shortage of risks when they head out to sea. Intense storms, tough working conditions, and more mean the threat of injury is ever-present. But sometimes, accidents are avoidable. After a deckhand on the F/V Time Bandit seriously injured his hand in a 2013 fireworks explosion, he sued. A jury eventually awarded him more than $1 million in compensation.
An F/V Time Bandit deckhand sued after a fireworks accident
When you’re out at sea, it’s hard to find ways to blow off steam. One way the crew of some Deadliest Catch boats have kept themselves entertained? Fireworks battles. But the fun took a serious turn when Time Bandit deckhand David “Beaver” Zielinski seriously injured himself while attempting to shoot off an explosive.
In January 2013, Zielinski and the rest of the Time Bandit crew were celebrating the Seattle Seahawks’ performance in an NFL playoff game. The deckhand attempted to launch a Time Bandit-branded firework at another boat, ‘Wild’ Bill Wichrowski’s F/V Cape Caution. But disaster struck when the firework exploded in his hand. Zielinski had to be taken to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to be treated for his injuries and was later flown to Seattle for surgery, according to a report from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
After the accident, Zielinksi sued two companies owned by Time Bandit captains, Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand. In court filings, Zielinski’s attorney said that the Hillstrands had told him to shoot off the firework, in part because they wanted to engineer a dramatic moment that could be featured on the Discovery Channel show.
The brothers should have known that having the explosives on board was dangerous, Zielinski’s lawyer said. But they took the risk “to better fulfill [the Time Bandit’s] mission including as a subject of interest in connection with the Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch television series.”
The aftermath of Zielinski’s accident was featured in ‘Deadliest Catch’ Season 9
A Deadliest Catch film crew was on board the Time Bandit when the firework explosion happened. The incident was featured on the show in the season 9 episode, “Kicking Off With a Bang.”
“This is not good,” Andy Hillstrand said in the episode as other crewmembers administered first aid to Zielinski. “The guys are saying the bone’s sticking right out of his hand.”
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The Deadliest Catch film crew followed along as Johnathan Hillstrand drove Zielinski, who was writhing in pain, to a clinic. The medical staff there were able to set the break, but said he’d need surgery to repair the damage.
Deadliest Catch viewers saw the aftermath of Zielinski’s accident. However, footage of the actual explosion disappeared, according to Zielinski’s attorney. Johnathan Hillstrand also admitted that he initially wanted to cover up the true cause of the deckhand’s injury.
“I suggested that perhaps we … could claim that Dave was injured by a crab pot or the pot launcher crushing his arm, instead of saying that a firework exploded in his hand,” he said in a sworn statement, per the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “I made this suggestion because I wanted to help Dave.”
Jonathan Hillstrand added that he thought saying the injury was directly related to Zielinski’s work as a fisherman would make it more likely his company’s insurance would cover his medical expenses. However, his brother Andy Hillstrand talked him out of the idea.
Zielinski’s lawsuit eventually went to trial. In 2017, a jury awarded him $1.4 million to compensate him for his injuries, which he said effectively ended his career as a commercial fisherman.
New episodes of Deadliest Catch Season 19 air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel. Episodes also stream the same day on discovery+.
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