Diver Indicted in 2003 GBR mishap

[caver]

People forget stuff all the time. Particularly stuff they never learned properly. People re-assure/lie to people all the time.

I'm not saying Gabe's innocent, but the arguments you are putting forward are easily refutable.

J

If what you say is true then the incident in question could not have been the first time it ever happened. What I mean is, I am sure there are OTHER people then, who have taken a Rescue course and forgotten that they were taught how to rescue an unconsious diver from depth. SO,,,how about it----WHO ELSE OUT THERE TOOK A RESCUE COURSE AND FORGOT ABOUT SURFACING WITH A DIVER IN DISTRESS? Lets see how many there are.

 

[InTheDrink]

Caver, here's the thread with the report that I'm referring to: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/225411-noaa-diver-dies-off-dry-tortugas.html Check out NOAA's report on the incident. Here's an excerpt:

"Ofc Pena-Lopez and the victim gathered their tools to the down line and proceeded up the line. At the safety stop, the victim immediately reached for the regulator on the reserve bottle to try to draw air. As was normal practice, the reserve bottle's air was not left open when not in use. When he was unable to draw air, the victim appeared to become unconcious and began to sink to the bottom. Ofc Pena-Lopez quickly turned to open the valve for the victim and grab him and the same time. Ofc Pena-Lopez, while holding the victim, released his own weight belt. However, the combined load was too great and both began to descend to the bottom. Ofc Pena-Lopez realized he would only endanger himself if he continued down with the victim and, instead, rose to the surface to give the distress signal and obtaqin assistance as quickly as possible"

Please note that all I am trying to do here is suggest that it might not be so incredible for this kind of accident to happen in the GBR incident. It can happen to professional divers. Yes, there are some glaring inconsistencies in Gabe's account but as divers we should be slow to judge events that could easily befall many of us.

 

[InTheDrink]

K-Girl: I was talking about lying in the context of re-assuring her parents that he was capable of rescuing their daughter. That's different than lying to the police or in a court.

You don't seem to comprehend that in a genuine emergency that people's reactions are totally unpredictable and to damn someone on the basis of their reaction is just silly, IMO.

I repeat: this is not to say that I don't think Gabe is guilty - I'm agnostic on the matter. But equating his 'training' with murder seems fairly bizarre to me. Just my £0.002.

(Personally I think his dive computer battery story more damning)

 

[ScubaSteve]

............as divers we should be slow to judge events that could easily befall many of us.

I am pretty confident that this complete set of incidents tied together will not happen to me:

1. I embrace my new wife and then simply watch her sink then surface
2. I surface and sit on another boat not asking about what is happening to her
3. I lie and provide glaringly contradictory stories each time I am approached
4. I would not destroy memorials placed at my wifes grave

There are many more points that I should have put in here, but you are missing the point IMO.....it is not ONE point. It is ALL points that need to be considered. Each piece of information is not overly useful while taken out of context. Put it in context and it tells a story.

 

[NudeDiver]

I am pretty confident that this complete set of incidents tied together will not happen to me:

1. I embrace my new wife and then simply watch her sink then surface
2. I surface and sit on another boat not asking about what is happening to her
3. I lie and provide glaringly contradictory stories each time I am approached
4. I would not destroy memorials placed at my wifes grave

There are many more points that I should have put in here, but you are missing the point IMO.....it is not ONE point. It is ALL points that need to be considered. Each piece of information is not overly useful while taken out of context. Put it in context and it tells a story.

This is easy to explain. While it may not be THE explanation, I believe it is a plausible one:

a). When she started to sink, I panicked!! I was like, OMG, OMG, she is sinking!!! What should I do??? I decided to get help.

b). I was in a state of passive panic. I was just sitting there - not believing the reality of what was happening. My new wife! The woman I loved!! This was horrible. I just...couldn't....think.

c). I got scared - people were going to blame this on me!! I loved my wife! Tina was everything to me! I didn't know who to trust - I thought the police were out to get me! I knew they were going to want to make me pay for this accident that happened. I was emotionally destroyed, I couldn't respond appropriately to all those questions. All those police asking me all those questions - accusing me of killing my wonderful wife - I got scared - and confused. They were trying to say *I* did it. They were yelling and screaming at me - trying to get me to confess to something I didn't do.


d). It was wrong - and I am so sorry about that. I was just lashing out against my inlaws, who seems to be doing everything possible to help the police and nothing to help me! They were out to get me from the start. They just made me so angry - I didn't know what else to do.

 

[caver]

JCLYNES

Accident reports are full of example after example of experienced divers failing to execute what they are taught in class. I am sure the report that you speak about is different than the story of Gabe and his wife, in some way. No two reports are exactly the same. For Mr. Gabe to say too the police he was a "Rescue" diver and for him to say he had not had any lessons on rescuing another diver is crap. He tried to say he only had covered "self rescue" in rescue class. He is a liar. EVERY agency that teached ANY "rescue" class, teaches that. His own instructor testified so. One does not forget something like that.

Now what does happen, in many cases, is a diver fails to act like he/she is taught. When an emergency happens sometimes the do not take the right course of action. But for him to say AFTER the fact, that he had NO training. That is wrong.

 

[InTheDrink]

I am pretty confident that this complete set of incidents tied together will not happen to me:

1. I embrace my new wife and then simply watch her sink then surface
2. I surface and sit on another boat not asking about what is happening to her
3. I lie and provide glaringly contradictory stories each time I am approached
4. I would not destroy memorials placed at my wifes grave

There are many more points that I should have put in here, but you are missing the point IMO.....it is not ONE point. It is ALL points that need to be considered. Each piece of information is not overly useful while taken out of context. Put it in context and it tells a story.

ScubaSteve, indeed, you mightn't and good for you. I would hope I wouldn't react in such a way also. And I'm not even a Rescue Diver. Luckily neither of us is on trial.

In terms of destroying memorials at a grave - that part is strange and doesn't seem to add up to me. If people are looking to extradite you this would seem like a strange thing to do. And if you felt guilty about murder ripping up flowers at the person's grave doesn't add up either. You need to think human motivation. Where is it? What is it? I don't understand so please explain if you have some insight that I'm missing.

JCLYNES

Accident reports are full of example after example of experienced divers failing to execute what they are taught in class. I am sure the report that you speak about is different than the story of Gabe and his wife, in some way. No two reports are exactly the same. For Mr. Gabe to say too the police he was a "Rescue" diver and for him to say he had not had any lessons on rescuing another diver is crap. He tried to say he only had covered "self rescue" in rescue class. He is a liar. EVERY agency that teached ANY "rescue" class, teaches that. His own instructor testified so. One does not forget something like that.

Now what does happen, in many cases, is a diver fails to act like he/she is taught. When an emergency happens sometimes the do not take the right course of action. But for him to say AFTER the fact, that he had NO training. That is wrong.

So his instructor maintains that he taught the class correctly? Stop press. He must be telling the truth.

 

[K_girl]

K-Girl: I was talking about lying in the context of re-assuring her parents that he was capable of rescuing their daughter. That's different than lying to the police or in a court.

You don't seem to comprehend that in a genuine emergency that people's reactions are totally unpredictable and to damn someone on the basis of their reaction is just silly, IMO.

I repeat: this is not to say that I don't think Gabe is guilty - I'm agnostic on the matter. But equating his 'training' with murder seems fairly bizarre to me. Just my Ž£0.002.

(Personally I think his dive computer battery story more damning)

You guys - I can't believe it! How many times do I have to say it - IT IS NOT ABOUT HIS ABILITY TO RESCUE IN AN EMERGENCY!! It is making others believe you have the ability to rescue and then telling the police that you never learned how to rescue someone else in a "rescue" course. He said he never learned to "get anyone" underwater in the rescue course. He said he learned about searching, but never how to bring them up from the bottom. He said the rescue course was about self-rescue and not about rescuing anyone else. Excuse me, but that is a flat-out lie and he and his lawyer have got some xplainin' to do!!

This is about what he says he is supposed to know - NOT about his actions or any lack thereof underwater. Yes, people freak-out and go to the surface for help, we all understand that. But why does he lie to the police and tell them he never learned any rescue skills at all? You add this in with all the other issues that don't add-up in his story and he has a real problem.

Yes, I would agree that his dive computer also will give him a big huge problem. I've counted more than 30 issues that look pretty bad for Mr. Watson - you can't just discount them all.

 

[NudeDiver]

But why does he lie to the police and tell them he never learned any rescue skills at all?

See my item c above.

c). I got scared - people were going to blame this on me!! I loved my wife! Tina was everything to me! I didn't know who to trust - I thought the police were out to get me! I knew they were going to want to make me pay for this accident that happened. I was emotionally destroyed, I couldn't respond appropriately to all those questions. All those police asking me all those questions - accusing me of killing my wonderful wife - I got scared - and confused. They were trying to say *I* did it. They were yelling and screaming at me - trying to get me to confess to something I didn't do.

 

[ScubaSteve]

JClynes and Nude Diver........I do agree that there are parts that may not actually be interpreted correctly today. My point is that there is way too much coincidence for me to swallow. I only named 4 points above and while I do not agree with your 4 explanations Nude, yes there could be possible explanations. My point was, there is everything that must be taken as part of the whole picture. As I said previously:

......Each piece of information is not overly useful while taken out of context. Put it in context and it tells a story.

By this or my previous post, I am not saying Gabe is guilty or innocent. Only that there is way too much coincidence that needs to be looked at IMHO.