The entire set of circumstances is really beyond belief. A well-executed emergency ditching in calm conditions, on a busy waterway inside a major city, with the doors already removed, so no hindrance to the pax exiting the cabin even in a potentially very dangerous situation.
And the pax who have never been in this aircraft before, have no prior knowledge or practical training on the actual process for separating themselves from the aircraft, in a process that would be a challenge to many trained aircrewmen, let alone someone who just walked off the street and now finds themselves in an emergency situation beyond their comprehension or experience.
Here you go, here's your knife!
A complete, utter and total failure of the regulator and everyone else that allowed this situation to occur. It is inconceivable that a fare-paying occupant could be put in a situation like this and die in a wholly survivable occurrence on a busy waterway in one of the great cities of the United States.
Completely and totally unacceptable.
My sympathies are with the innocent pax that died, and the families that survive them. You deserve everything the legal system awards you.
And for the all the others involved, sadly you will pay dearly for what you did and what has occurred here. But you all created it.