Horizon Dive Adventures Complaint Filed in Federal Court

[Wookie]

A diver’s body was found deep in the ocean off the Keys. But was the recovery legal?

 

[Nick Steele]

So just kinda of curious regarding this rescue. When so many people are searching for a body is it excepted to find the body and then surface to contact coast guard etc?

I would imagine finding the body then losing it again could cause its own problems legally/emotionally.

 

[Wookie]

First, it wasn’t a rescue, it was a recovery. That’s important. It became a recovery when the CG called off the search, and when a body was found.

Second, the recovery team was explicitly told not to recover the body. They were told that by the legal authority to make that decision. The legal authority was ignored, and he was ignored by the very people who would be sued and his lawyer.

 

[Scuba J7]

So just kinda of curious regarding this rescue. When so many people are searching for a body is it excepted to find the body and then surface to contact coast guard etc?

I would imagine finding the body then losing it again could cause its own problems legally/emotionally.

He was found with an ROV, they could have contacted authorities upon discovery and monitored the body until instructions or other divers were brought in.

 

[tomfcrist]

First, it wasn’t a rescue, it was a recovery. That’s important. It became a recovery when the CG called off the search, and when a body was found.

Second, the recovery team was explicitly told not to recover the body. They were told that by the legal authority to make that decision. The legal authority was ignored, and he was ignored by the very people who would be sued and his lawyer.

There is no evidence that Dan Dawson got that email...at least not that I can find. Either way, the suit is wrongful death right?

What does the recovery effort have to do with the proximate cause of Stewart’s death?

 

[Trace Malinowski]

What does the recovery effort have to do with the proximate cause of Stewart’s death?

When we did the NSS-CDS cave recovery course with Lamar Hires, he told us all kinds of stories about the trouble recovery divers have gotten themselves into and could potentially get themselves into -- everything from being accused of theft to tampering with evidence and murder. We were told to never be the recovery divers of an accident that had taken place if we were part of the team when someone perished. Obviously, if there is a chance the victim could be saved, then you'd try. But, once you knew it was a recovery, you stay out of it.

 

[tomfcrist]

The only evidence I would guess Dan could tamper with is dumping the gasses...assuming there was a known issue there....which from what I gather there wasn’t. Wouldn’t analysis of Sotis’ gasses at least clue us into if the gasses were contaminated?

Rebreather wasn’t rented from horizon....etc etc....

I see that there can be a perception of ****ery, but I don’t see that making them liable for the death of Rob.

Doing 45 minute bottom times with <100 min runtimes on the queen...followed by a bounce dive to get the anchor caused their issues...Rob and Sotis were bent...and Sotis should have known better

 

[rjack321]

The only evidence I would guess Dan could tamper with is dumping the gasses...assuming there was a known issue there....which from what I gather there wasn’t. Wouldn’t analysis of Sotis’ gasses at least clue us into if the gasses were contaminated?

Rebreather wasn’t rented from horizon....etc etc....

I see that there can be a perception of ****ery, but I don’t see that making them liable for the death of Rob.

Doing 45 minute bottom times with <100 min runtimes on the queen...followed by a bounce dive to get the anchor caused their issues...Rob and Sotis were bent...and Sotis should have known better

The orientation of the body, if the weights were on, blood in the mask, loop in the mouth, CO in the breathing loop, O2 content of the loop, its a long list. There are a whole bunch of clue that are lost or unreliable now because those potentially liable in his death recovered the body against the express instructions of law enforcement (the coroner being a civilian leg of law enforcement)

 

[tomfcrist]

The orientation of the body, if the weights were on, blood in the mask, loop in the mouth, CO in the breathing loop, O2 content of the loop, its a long list. There are a whole bunch of clue that are lost or unreliable now because those potentially liable in his death recovered the body against the express instructions of law enforcement (the coroner being a civilian leg of law enforcement)

The video from the rov gives some of that....

FYI, medical examiners are not in any way a leg of law enforcement...and law enforcement officers are “civilians”.

 

[rjack321]

The video from the rov gives some of that.....

"Some" of that which is now all questionable. The truth is nobody knows how the body might have been altered because the recovery divers are not unbiased divers acting under legal authority to recover the body. Look at what IUCRR collects for cave diving recoveries, these clowns did nothing except tamper with the scene and the body.