Catalina Island fatality - California

[DandyDon]

Nothing found in the news. Just this from Sheriff?s Log: Dec. 16 to Dec. 21, 2015

Patric Nichols, 57, a resident of Riverside, died while scuba diving off the east end of Catalina Island. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

 

[drbill]

Patric was a friend of mine. I knew we'd had a death last weekend, but I didn't know it was Patric until the next day. I talked with a friend who was on the boat with him and he would not tell me anything because they had been told not to say anything about the incident. It makes sense of course, although it also makes one wonder if there was some problem people didn't want exposed. At this point we will have to wait until the investigation is completed.

Patric always had a big smile on his face when he came over to dive our dive park. He always seemed to be a happy kind of guy. He will be missed. My condolences to his family and friends.

 

[tomfcrist]

Sorry about the loss of your friend Bill.

 

[decompression]

Sorry for your loss Bill.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ken Kurtis]

. . . they had been told not to say anything about the incident. It makes sense of course . . .

This is not meant to sound like a criticism, but it actually makes no sense IMHO. And this is something I've complained about for years in discussions with law enforcement agencies, insurance companies, training agencies, etc.

Discussing the facts of an accident educates the community, it doesn't hinder an investigation. All silence does is brew conspiracy theories wondering if something's being hidden. And while it may be policy for government agencies not to discuss on-going cases ("policy" is not always to be confused with "common sense"), there's certainly nothing to prevent anyone on the boat or who witnessed the accident from relaying info. I'd be curious to know who told your friend not to say anything because, again IMHO, that shouldn't have happened.

- Ken

 

[serpentara]

I was on the boat when Patric died. The reason we don't talk about it immediately? Two fold. First, we wanted the family to know before it was blasted over social media. Second, ever play telephone? We didn't want individual eyewitness accounts tainted by the recollection of others. Any lawyer will tell you that eyewitness accounts are incredibly unreliable to begin with, and encouraging gossip around the boat and elsewhere only makes it worse.

Once the police have everyone's statements, then of course people are free to talk about it. Patric's Facebook account was just updated with his death a day or two ago, so now I suspect there will be more dialogue.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[iamrushman]

sad story for those involved.......My condolences to his family and friends.

 

[drrich2]

Discussing a case can lead to going on record with statements contrary to your party's interest in the event of a lawsuit. If you are an employee of the op., this can be a problem. Even if the op. did nothing wrong. Sadly, being right alone isn't always enough to win a lawsuit.

If you are a bystander and volunteer you know something, you may unknowingly be volunteering to testify at a civil or criminal trial. In a state you may or may not live in.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

Discussing a case can lead to going on record with statements contrary to your party's interest in the event of a lawsuit.

Actually, I asked that very question a few years ago of one of the insurance guys: has there ever been a case we should have won, where public statements or statements made to a victim's family in the aftermath came back to where we lost a case that would have been won. He said no, that had never happened.

I understand it from both the law enforcement investigative angle as well as the legal angle. The policies generally serve their self-interests, not those of the diving community or even necessarily the victim IMHO. If part of the goal of this (and this is why I really like working with the LA County Coroner's Office) is to get information out to the diving community in a timely manner so that we can learn from these accidents and not repeat whatever mistakes might have been made (and I'm not implying that there were mistakes made in the case of Patric's death), silence doesn't further that goal.

- Ken

 

[drrich2]

An insurance guy told you that, but I doubt an attorney for someone at risk to get sued told you that.

The policies generally serve their self-interests, not those of the diving community or even necessarily the victim IMHO.

Agreed. And anybody on that boat who might get sucked into a legal action has a potential self-interest in the matter. Could be plaintiff, employee, staff, potential witness for either side, etc...

If part of the goal of this (and this is why I really like working with the LA County Coroner's Office) is to get information out to the diving community in a timely manner...

I agree that's not the goal of such policies, although it could be served by waiting to get the most accurate story possible out, once all the evidence is in place, instead of people making well-intentioned but perhaps inaccurate/distorted statements that some in the public 'run with.'

Richard.