Officer died in Chesapeake Dive Team training

[DandyDon]

When Schock surfaced, he told his team partner - who was with him during the training - that he couldn’t breath, Wright wrote. Schock’s partner immediately tried to give him his own respirator, “but under the stress and duress of the situation, Officer Schock pushed away the apparatus and went back under water,” Wright wrote.

IPE or any other cause aside, dropping weight or inflating BC could have given the time to deal with whatever the medical issue was.

Yep, they were on the surface but from the small amount of info given in the story, and the possibility that it wasn't accurately reported - hard to say? Still, I got to agree - if he knew he was in trouble, then establishing positive buoyancy on the surface would have been the thing to do, but he may not have been thinking clearly then, or at all - on the verge of passing out, and his buddy just may not have recognized the urgency of the failing situation. I think Inthedrink in his thread on his incident suggested a signal for "I'm in very big trouble here now!" be established. I need to think about that one.

Not really any more info in this follow-up story Chesapeake police continue to search for answers after officer's death - WTKR but it sounds like our discussion here is being referenced there. Excerpting...

An online forum of SCUBA divers who study accidents said this tragedy has the earmarks of a little-understood condition called "immersion pulmonary edema." That's a rare condition where, especially in cold water, a diver's lungs fill with fluid. That causes breathing problems, confusion and can lead to death.

 

[Jax]

We are waiting for someone to come in with an update . . .

 

[jar546]

So let me get this straight. There is an initial post about a safety team diver in the accidents and illness forum. No detailed information about this particular accident is released/available. Someone immediately speculates IPE and then this thread turns into an IPE thread that has absolutely nothing to do with the OP?

Can this thread be split and all of the speculation portion and IPE discussion (99% of the posts) have its own thread and then leave the safety team diver's death thread available for future discussion when facts are released?

I know there is a report post button but is there a report thread button to get the attention of the moderators?

 

[ScubaSteve]

So let me get this straight. There is an initial post about a safety team diver in the accidents and illness forum. No detailed information about this particular accident is released/available. Someone immediately speculates IPE and then this thread turns into an IPE thread that has absolutely nothing to do with the OP?

Can this thread be split and all of the speculation portion and IPE discussion (99% of the posts) have its own thread and then leave the safety team diver's death thread available for future discussion when facts are released?

I know there is a report post button but is there a report thread button to get the attention of the moderators?

Report the original post and explain your concern in the report. Simple as that. Now, certain moderator's will accuse me of playing a mod (as has been done before ) simply because I answered your question. There really is no winning around here.

 

[jar546]

Done and sent

 

[Quero]

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

The discussion of the event that is the topic of this thread is intertwined with a broader discussion of the incidence of IPE and the response to an IPE incident. I have tried to disentangle the two discussions by moving a number of posts to a new thread in Diving Medicine. As a consequence, there is some overlap and also referred links between the threads. Here is the split off thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/di...immersion-pulmonary-edema-dive-accidents.html
Please use the current thread for discussion of the incident reported in the first post, and go to the split off thread for contributions to the broader discussion. Thanks!

---

 

[Iknee]

Faulty equipment cited in officer death

The Chesapeake Chief of Police says that an equipment failure contributed to the death of Officer Timothy Schock.

 

[Iknee]

News article and link

By Veronica Gonzalez The Virginian-Pilot © February 15, 2012

CHESAPEAKE

An investigation into the death of Chesapeake police Officer Timothy Schock during dive-team training in late December concluded that an equipment malfunction was to blame.

Police Chief Kelvin Wright today released a summary of the department's findings as three agencies – the Chesapeake Police Department, Virginia State Police and medical examiner's office – wrap up their inquiries. Wright said as a result of the findings, the department will be replacing some of the equipment the dive team uses.

In addition, the department plans to put more checks and balances in place to assure greater safety for its divers.

On Dec. 20, Schock, 41, was participating in routine underwater search-and-rescue training at Oak Grove Lake Park when he surfaced and told his partner he was having trouble breathing. The partner tried to give Schock a respirator, but he pushed it away and went back underwater.

Despite lifesaving efforts, the 16-year veteran was later pronounced dead, Wright said.

The department is looking to replace the power inflators and weight-release systems. That was the equipment cited as contributing to Schock's death.

Schock was the 10th city police officer to die in the line of duty. He had served on the dive team – a secondary assignment for officers – for about eight years. The 13-person unit trains one day a month -- at Oak Grove Lake Park and other locations -- and was activated eight times last year.

As of this morning, a spokesperson for the medical examiner's office said doctors are waiting for additional information before determining the cause and manner of his death.

Schock was engaged to Tammy Hill, and he had left behind a son, Nicholas.


http://hamptonroads.com/2012/02/police-equipment-problem-led-diving-death

 

[Bubbletrubble]

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/02/police-equipment-problem-led-diving-death

The news report doesn't elaborate on the precipitating cause of the victim's breathing problems. It just states that he had difficulty establishing positive buoyancy once he had surfaced. It will be interesting to learn whether the autopsy indicates the existence of an underlying medical condition.

The preliminary conclusions of the investigation make me wonder what kind/brand of power inflater and weight release system the victim was using.
Did the unique environment/circumstances of the training mission cause failure of either of the two devices?
Or could the failures also be replicated in a regular OW recreational dive scenario? Obviously, if this is the case, the device design should be revised.

It should be noted that there may have been alternative methods of facilitating positive buoyancy.
Depending on the failure mode of the power inflater, perhaps oral inflation could have been used.
If the victim had been using a drysuit, it could have been inflated.
A lift bag might have helped as well.

Even if positive buoyancy could not have been established at the surface, the victim should have had the ability to breathe off of his regulator. This assumes that the regulator was functioning properly and that he had sufficient gas supplies.

I wonder whether the dive team just got complacent in its pre-dive equipment and buddy checks.

I also wonder about the overall and recent dive experience of the victim. I would think that the task-loading inherent in search-and-rescue training and operational work would demand an experienced and active diver.

 

[Thalassamania]

I think that the odds of some sort of physiological problem occurring at the same time there is a failure in the power inflator at the same time there is a problem with the weight drop system is a bit far fetched.

I suspect a lack of understanding of the issues or a coverup.