Water Patrol, Coast Guard boats crash during pursuit near Arch

ST. LOUIS -- U.S. Coast Guard and Missouri State Water Patrol boats crashed Thursday, tossing two Coast Guard crew members overboard, while chasing a Mississippi River pleasure boater who mistakenly entered a restricted zone near the Gateway Arch.

The Coast Guard members were quickly pulled from the water with "just a few bumps and bruises," said Lt. Cmdr. David Haynes of the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Office here.

The chase began after the pleasure boaters went inside a restricted area near the Arch, believing that the security buffer had been lifted, patrol Sgt. Paul Kennedy said. They left the restricted area as soon as they realized they were in the wrong place, and no arrests were made, Kennedy said.

One of the Coast Guard crew members thrown overboard was checked at a hospital, authorities said.

The crash was under investigation.

Landmark targets

Security around the Arch has tightened in recent days amid concerns that national landmarks could become terrorist targets. At the National Park Service's request, the Federal Aviation Administration banned flights Thursday within 3.4 miles of the Arch, excluding the traditional air shows.

As a holiday weekend precaution, the Coast Guard banned all vessels from floating within 350 feet of the river's Missouri bank until midnight Sunday. Between that buffer zone and the Illinois bank, boat traffic will be allowed only at times when air shows and fireworks displays are not scheduled.

The river chase happened against the backdrop of the city's Fair St. Louis, the yearly gathering that draws tens of thousands to the Arch grounds and the riverfront for one of the nation's bigger Fourth of July bashes.

By late Thursday afternoon, thousands had flocked to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the Arch's home. About 350 Missouri National Guard soldiers ordered to be there by the governor for security stood here and there, automatic rifles slung over their shoulders. Guard troops were most obvious along a riverfront barricade, standing about 40 yards apart.

Police had scoured the grounds with bomb-sniffing dogs and had screened vendors.

"We've done everything you can imagine," Police Chief Joe Mokwa said.

Many fairgoers weren't put off by having to pass through checkpoints or having their bags inspected to get onto the grounds, this year surrounded by plastic security fencing.

"You don't really notice security workers until you get here" along the Mississippi, said Kathy Humphrey, strolling the riverfront with husband Mitch, waiting for an air show's start. "You almost want to see them."

Phooey on all the terrorism concerns and alerts, her husband said.

"After you cry wolf so many times, you just quit taking it too seriously," said Humphrey, who with his wife develops business software in the St. Louis suburb of Town and Country.

"Like most other people, we're going to do the things we want to do."

Still, seeing the Guard troops -- and their firepower -- startled Victoria Foley, from the St. Louis suburb of Bellefontaine Neighbors.

"Seeing the guns makes me nervous. It scares me, kind of upsets me," she said.