As a new diver myself that was just OW certified the first weekend in April, I have a couple of observations that I would like to share.
1) It matters not whether the student was a student or not, because this could have been a fatigued diver that was in borderline distress. This action could have seriously exacerbated the situation and brought on cardiac arrest or a panic attack, either of which could easily result in a drowning. Would this then be a mere shoving incident, or some degree of manslaughter..?
2) During my cert, I was paired up with a woman who was extremely nervous and timid in the water, and had this happened to her, she would never again don her gear!
3) During my 1st pool session, there was a group of teenagers that kept jumping in atop my instructor and I and hitting us (generally head taps with hand or foot) while we were doing exercises at the bottom of the deep end, so we moved... Everywhere we went, they followed. It was a game to them, but not to us, so on the 2nd to the final time this happened, I pulled my knife and pointed upwards at my instructor. He made a sawing motion and gave an OK sign, so the next time these bastards came down deep, I showed them the knife and they never bothered us again.
I would have a face-to-face with the other shop owner to discuss the POTENTIAL severity of this situation, and then follow up in an appropriate manner.
-Tim
