NEW YORK (AP) – A former director of the Staten Island ferry pleaded guilty to negligent manslaughter in the 2003 crash that killed 11 passengers, one of the worst mass-transit disasters in city history.

Appearing in federal court in Brooklyn, Patrick Ryan admitted that he chose not to implement or enforce a rule requiring ferries be operated by two pilots whenever at sea. The Andrew J. Barberi crashed on Oct. 15, 2003 after a lone skipper in the pilot house, Richard Smith, passed out.

Ryan, 53, the city’s chief of ferry operations and top-ranking official charged in the case, appeared at a loss when asked by U.S. District Judge Edward Korman why he didn’t make sure the two-pilot rule was observed.

“I’ve searched my heart and soul for why,” Ryan said. “I can’t tell you why.”

Afterward, U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf said in a statement that the plea by a ferry supervisor showed prosecutors’ resolve to “hold accountable both those on the Barberi and those on shore who were responsible for the crash.”

But relatives of victim Pio Canini complained that Ryan, who faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison, got off easy.

“It’s a disgrace,” said Canini’s widow, Deborah. “He’ll be out before his next birthday.”

Another defendant, former port captain John Mauldin, also pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to investigators. Smith is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to 11 counts of negligent manslaughter.

Along with the deaths, dozens of people were maimed after Smith blacked out because of fatigue and painkillers, allowing the Barberi to slam into a maintenance pier.

Smith was jolted to attention by the crash and witnessed all the carnage, defense papers said. He was so distraught, he tried to kill himself by slitting his wrists and shooting himself in the chest with a pellet gun.

“To say he was devastated by what he saw was an understatement,” the defense papers said. “He immediately felt a sense of culpability, holding himself responsible for all of the deaths and injuries he’d just witnessed.”

The defense claims Smith has suffered severe depression ever since.

“No punishment imposed by the court will punish Richard Smith as much as he has punished himself. … Richard Smith is a broken man,” the papers said.

Prosecutors have countered that the normal sentencing range for Smith – 21 to 27 months – was too low.

The fact that Smith “decided for himself that his pervasive use of these medications was consistent with piloting a 6,000-passenger ferryboat in one of the world’s busiest harbors on a weekday afternoon, even when he was very fatigued, constitutes an extraordinary and highly unusual degree of recklessness,” the prosecution’s court papers said.

Prosecutors did not recommend a specific sentence. But they noted that under guidelines enacted after the crash, Smith would face a sentence of 51 to 63 months.

No sentencing dates for any of the defendants have been set.