Nobody seems to have known about the 15 year old and the father wasn't known to be doing anything illegal.
A.) Plenty of people knew Spivey was cave diving without a cave cert. Plenty of people knew Spivey was taking Sanchez diving, without any cert. The math is pretty easy to do. But in case that's still hard to fathom, they were both posting about their exploits - including pictures - on FaceBook and cave diving forums. Unless people thought they were going to dive the pool at LR - which I believe is about 10ft deep - with all this gear...
B.) We really ought to stop pronouncing that Spivey wasn't doing anything illegal. As to whether Spivey could or would be charged and convicted... well, he dodged that bullet by killing himself. Had he survived and Sanchez died the Florida statute for "aggravated manslaughter of a minor" could have probably applied. Described in Florida 782.07 as follows "A person who causes the death of any person under the age of 18 by culpable negligence under s. 827.03(b)(2) commits aggravated manslaughter of a child, a felony of the first degree." (827.03 specifies culpable negligence as "An intentional act that could reasonably be expected to result in physical or mental injury to a child.")
I think you could produce a line of expert witnesses out the door and around the corner to testify that a diver with no cave training or certs, taking an uncertified minor cave diving, particularly at Eagle's Nest, without proper training, gear, breathing gas mixes, or adequate gas supply would clearly meet the burden of "reasonably be expected to result in injury."
Even before the fatal accident on Christmas - or if they had both survived that dive - 827.03(b)(2) is a crime in and of itself, and
[SIZE=-1]a person who "willfully or by culpable negligence neglects a child without causing bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement to the child commits a felony of the third degree[/SIZE]." (My emphasis added, to point out that the act doesn't have to actually result in harm in order to be a crime.)
Of course you'll say that "cave diving" isn't the same as "neglect" saying something like "neglect means starving your child, or forcing them to stand outside in the cold or something like that, right?" But the statute defines neglect as "
[SIZE=-1]A caregiver’s failure or omission to provide a child with the care, supervision, and services necessary to maintain the child’s physical and mental health that a prudent person would consider essential for the well-being of the child. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Neglect of a child may be based on repeated conduct or on a single incident or omission that results in, or could reasonably be expected to result in, serious physical or mental injury, or a substantial risk of death." [/SIZE](My emphasis added.) Again, there would be no shortage of expert witnesses willing to testify that taking Dillon Sanchez cave diving constituted a failure to provide Dillon with the supervision that a prudent person would consider essential for his well-being, and this failure could reasonably be expected to result in injury or substantial risk of death. I would imagine you'd have a hard time finding a single expert witness willing to testify that this is NOT the case.
