# Divemaster charged with Homicide?



## FishinFL (Sep 30, 2007)

I hearda short piece on the 4 o'clock news about a divemaster being charged with the death of a student. The student panicked and surfaced.



Anyone know the details?

thanks, Reese


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## bmoore (Oct 10, 2007)

Could be...

http://www.divemaster.com/diving-news/scuba-instructor-charged-with-murder_28723.html


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

What a crock of sh#t! That's a cardinal rule. I refuse to believe any certified instructor would be so negligent as to neglect to teach studentsthemost important rule in scuba diving - DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH WHILE ASCENDING! But again, imbeciles on the jury and a slick lawyer.


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## sniper (Oct 3, 2007)

How deep was this pool of death? This sounds rediculous.


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## Evensplit (Oct 2, 2007)

You can suffer a fatal embolism from as little as 4 feet of water. Extreme, but it is possible. 

This is why I cringe every time I hear of someoneletting a friend or child "try" scuba in a swimming pool - "It's just a pool". Please don't do this...PLEASE


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## reefcreature (Oct 3, 2007)

what i read in the news journal was that a 16 year old female student was in 26 feet of water. when she surfaced she was in trouble and cpr was given but was pronounced dead at a local hospital on key largo. her father which is a certified diver was there as well.

i wonder where the instructor was?


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## reefcreature (Oct 3, 2007)

oops!! wrong storey


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## Evensplit (Oct 2, 2007)

2 different cases. The girl was this past weekend. TheAU case was last year.


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## sniper (Oct 3, 2007)

> *Evensplit (7/29/2008)*You can suffer a fatal embolism from as little as 4 feet of water. Extreme, but it is possible.
> 
> This is why I cringe every time I hear of someoneletting a friend or child "try" scuba in a swimming pool - "It's just a pool". Please don't do this...PLEASE




True and I agree but my point was that she was maybe16.5' deep (the depth of AU's pool)if she was laying down and gasped a lung full of air, and held it and shot to the surface true she could have got an air embolism. But there has to be more to the story in order to charge an instructor with a crime. I think there is something that wasnt released in the story.


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## Evensplit (Oct 2, 2007)

If she was indicted on "negligence" there could have been a violation of standards or something to that effect. Not going to speculate but will be watching this one closely - could set a HUGE precedent.


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## WW2 (Sep 28, 2007)

It would seem to me that if she had 20 people in her class and all of them failed to do it then sure, she must have made a mistake if everyone missed it, but the fact that none of the other students died would make it hard to show that. There has to be a point where the student is to blame.


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## Caver2130 (Jul 8, 2008)

> *WW2 (7/30/2008)*It would seem to me that if she had 20 people in her class and all of them failed to do it then sure, she must have made a mistake if everyone missed it, but the fact that none of the other students died would make it hard to show that. There has to be a point where the student is to blame.




I wouldn't say that would be the case. Just because something doesn't hurt everyone, doesn't mean it is proper or safe. The instructor very well could've been operating outside of accepted recreational training standards. If the bulk of the diving community doesn't accept that instructor's training methods, then the instructor is sitting in a pretty lonely place, legally speaking. With the instructor being in a position that brings both authority and trust, a student wouldn't see their instruction as especially harmful. An unfortunate incident all around. 



Also, I agree with evensplit, if you are not a professional, do not attempt to "train" a non-diver in any sense. It may seem harmless to throw a family member or friend in the pool with a tank, but the evidence shows otherwise. All too often I hear of people doing this without imparting crucial safety information. I fully believe NAUI's credo, "Diving Safety through Education." There are plenty of trained instructors all over the world that have dedicated themselves safely training divers, seek them out and have a much more safe and fun diving experience!!


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## OffshoreAngler (Jul 29, 2008)

This happened last spring at the university of alabama and the dive instructer was just recently charged with negligent homicide. The instructer suposedly left the students in one side of the pool to godo some private lessons withsome other people on the other side of the pool.She left some less experinced divers in charge well they did a drill where they took off their gear at depth and then surfaced and apparently the student freaked and shot to the surface causing an air embolism. I don't agree with the charge at all. Im sure the instructor explained the drill to them and i doubt it was the first time they had done it and like already stated i can't imagine the instructor not telling her students the number one rule in diving, always breathe! Once at depth there wouldn't be much the instructor could do to stop the student from flipping out and shooting to the top anyways


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## craasch210 (Oct 4, 2007)

When you guys say "air embolism", are you refering to a pneumothorax? I believe that would be a more likey scenario as holding your breath cant really cause any type of "air embolism."

Chris


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## theangrydolphin (Oct 2, 2007)

Actually......thismay bewhat you guys might be looking for.........

"Arterial gasembolism (AGE)is one of the diving disorders SCUBA divers sometimes suffer when they receivepressure damage(barotrauma)to their lungs following a (rapid) ascent where the breath is inappropriately held against a closed glottis, allowing pressure to build up inside the lungs, relative to the blood. It is termed "gas" because the diver may be using a diving breathing gas other than air. The gas bubbles can impede the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the brain and vital organs by destroying "alveoli" in the damaged lung(s). They can also cause clots to form in blood vessels."

And...of course, pneumothorax as stated.


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## spearfisher (Oct 3, 2007)

> *Evensplit (7/29/2008)*2 different cases. The girl was this past weekend. TheAU case was last year.


Jim, Jim, Jim,

I am extremely disappointed in you!:nonono

Alabama is U of A










This is AU


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## Evensplit (Oct 2, 2007)

DOH!.............:banghead :doh :doh

Now that's funny.....and it made it this long before someone caught it...


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