Scuba assault investigation - Hawaii

[mullannix930]

I don't take sides on this. No doubt that the collector shouldn't have yanked the reg out of her mouth. I've had it happen in shallow water (by a diver who thought it was funny), I was lucky to be exhaling and not inhaling at the time.


On the other hand, I do wonder if the divers shooting the video were engaging in harassing activity prior to the video. I'm not saying that it justified the assault but it would be nice to know.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

On the one hand, it's irrelevant whether the econuts were being econuts before the unjustified attack. On the other hand, only one person was charged with a crime after both were investigated, and it wasn't the econuts…so make of that what you will.

 

[KingOfTheGeeks]

As is always the case, there are three sides to every story, his.............hers.............and what really happened. Since we only get a brief glimpse of the reg incident i reserve judgement based on multiple accounts indicating this involved people very much known to each other and in conflict long before they entered the water that day !

 

[boulderjohn]

I am not putting this in moderator red colors, but remember this is not a thread about how many different nations could claim to have been taken over by the United States. If you want to talk about that, take it to the Pub. If this continues, we will have to go in an delete all those posts.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

It could be relevant if the defendant were to claim "crime of passion".

Yes, please tell me more about the legal defense of "crime of passion"

 

[boulderjohn]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Oh well, I see that warning went well--25 minutes until it was ignored. All posts on politics and the history of American imperialism have been removed.

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[DandyDon]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Oh well, I see that warning went well--25 minutes until it was ignored. All posts on politics and the history of American imperialism have been removed.

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Sorry, missed that. My bad.

 

[DocVikingo]

Courtesy of Undercurrent (http://www.undercurrent.org) & DocVikingo:

“November 2014, Vol. 29, No. 11

Regulator-Ripping Diver Is “Not the Criminal Here.” Really?

A February 17 trial date has been set for the year's most infamous dive. You may recall our June feature article "An Underwater Attack Makes World Headlines," giving details of an underwater encounter off Hawaii's Kona coast on May 8 between marine activist Rene Umberger and fish collector Jay Lovell. Umberger, who has written for Undercurrent about the bad practices used to collect Hawaii fish for the aquarium trade, and two other divers were using cameras to film fish collectors plying their trade, and when Lovell saw them filming him collecting fish, he finned toward Umberger and pulled the regulator out of her mouth.

Authorities charged Lovell with a misdemeanor of second-degree terroristic threatening, to which he pleaded not guilty in September. Lovell didn't speak during the brief arraignment, but his attorney, Evans Smith, objected to a media request for extended coverage, which would allow a camera in the courtroom, then requested the case be taken to trial.

After the arraignment, Smith told West Hawaii Today that Lovell was actually the one under threat, being surrounded by six strangers, who blocked his route back to the surface, and when he got back on land, he immediately reported the incident to authorities. "He's not the criminal here," Smith said.

Oh, really? Who was the only diver down there to rip a regulator out of someone's mouth?”


Cheers,

DocVikingo​

 

[gypsyjim]

I notice that you posted this also in the closed thread that discussed the same incident.

Not to be adding any fuel to the fire, but, when I watched the video it certainly did not appear in any way that he was "being surrounded by six strangers, who blocked his route back to the surface." He had to kick hard, over a pretty fair distance in order to assault the other diver and yank her regulator out of her mouth. In that video there appeared no other divers above or close to him.

---------- Post added November 13th, 2014 at 08:26 AM ----------

While he may have been engaged in a totally legal endeavor, and even been illegally harassed in the time prior to his actions, there is no way that what shows in that video can ever been seen as defensive in nature, instead of as the assault it became at that point.

 

[DocVikingo]

..when I watched the video it certainly did not appear in any way that he was "being surrounded by six strangers, who blocked his route back to the surface." He had to kick hard, over a pretty fair distance in order to assault the other diver and yank her regulator out of her mouth. In that video there appeared no other divers above or close to him....there is no way that what shows in that video can ever been seen as defensive in nature, instead of as the assault it became at that point.

Amen, Brother Jim.

Cheers,

DocV