The short version is that these guys went out late in the day January in
Palm Beach on the edge of the Gulf Stream and did a drift dive to 250 with
no float. The current there points at Ireland and is running 4 mph on the
surface, almost still at the bottom. There is a barge there that they all
like to dive on for some reason ( because it is deep). Apparently there was
an instructor , a student, a helper and the cop. The student had the usual
stroke rig with IANTD rules in play , and a wetsuit with steel tanks. It
appears that the student had buoyancy and gas management problems and they
bounced up and down trying to get up to deco. The instructor shot a bag from
too deep and lost it, the cop tried to help, and the whole thing went bad.

In any event, the boat had no crew , safety divers or dive master, and it
followed a bag with one diver for two hours not knowing there was a problem.
By the time they figured it out, it was dark.

The instructor was found six weeks later on the surface about 5 miles away.
The other two were not found. My guess is they got moved away from the boat
by the different current above than below, and that one or more of them was
dead from decompression omission and sunk, and the others drifted with the
current. I think the cop got lost on the surface.



-----Original Message-----
From: Rogers, Thomas A [mailto:thomas.a.rogers@bo*.co*]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2001 12:05 PM
To: 'dougch@ea*.ne*'; techdiver@aquanaut.com
Subject: RE: Bondage wings inflation


Would someone please be so kind to repost the story od how the accident
happened or post a link.

Thank you,

tom

-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Chapman [mailto:dougch@ea*.ne*]
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2001 9:37 AM
To: techdiver@aquanaut.com
Subject: Re:Bondage wings inflation


JT,
I cannot confirm the statement because I am not directly familiar with the
case or the people involved (inc. the three dead). I was told at the time we

made the video (that I described in an earlier post) that this video was for

a lawsuit involving one or more fatalities in So. Florida. I know better
than
to ask too many questions in these sorts of things. I just wanted to go
diving. In making the video, we had a procedure to follow that I suspect was

drafted and agreed to by both the plaintiff and defense teams. I do suspect
it is the same case, but I don't know that for a fact. To speculate beyond
my
involvement in simply making a video would not be proper. Regardless, I did
not know any of the dead divers, so I cannot comment on those points as
well.

-Doug

--------------------
>Begin
Doug
The lawsuit you refer to, was it the WPB 3 accident in FL . If so can you
confirm the statement below that was emailed to me in private about the
court case. How accurate is the info below.

 >The triple death in WPB well the instructor is an or was an excellent
instructor and unlike what xxxxx states he did not smoke and he was not a
drunk. He was a retired sgt Major from SP and had 4 tours of duty in Nam
He went through swim school with the USN in February. He ran the US Army
swim Scholl for a few years.
He swim 2 miles 3 times a week up until the day he died and he ran for 20
minutes on the non swimming days .That comes from years of combat swims
He was an excellent diver and an excellent instructor.
xx was the expert witness against him or his estate the testimony is
interesting. Unfortunately the insurance company settled for 450,00 instead
of going to court as there is no doubt in the lawyers mind and evidently in
their that the case would have been beaten.xxxxxx per se had been dropped
out of the case 3 months earlier and the suit then was against xxxx estate,
xxxxxxxxxxxxx, The boat Captain and the diver who tried to assist in the
rescue until xxxxx sent him up because he was low on gas. . The suit had
been for 9 million originally. The offer for 450,00 was made as that was
the amount the insurance company figured they would spend in appeals once
the plaintiffs lost the case. And that offer was put on the table at
mediation called for by the plaintiffs attorneys the day before the case.
The attorney at hat time had only offered them 50 thousand (basically the
cost of a trial) So at 4 PM the offer was made and it was to be taken off
the table at 8:30 PM at 7:50 xxxxx called and they took it.
They then went to court against the diver (xxxxxxxx) who survived with xx
testifying against him. Had they won this case that would have meant
whatever you do do not try and rescue a diver. Fortunately the jury found
that xxxxxxx efforts only helped the situation not contribute to it as xx
was implying. Then the judge threw out the suit in regard to xxxxxxx the
3rd diver who died. xxxxxx was a close friend of xxxx but when they had a
problem he had left and went up to deco on his lift bag. The last time
xxxxxx saw him he was on his lift bag. He may have gone back down to assist
or he may have had a problem of his own. He was not a student or anything
that nature. He had not been with them on the three times they got up to
150 and then sank back to 200 plus before xxxxx left.
As far as config there was a complete video of xxxxx xxxxxx taking the same
equipment that was used by the deceased and ascending just using his BC.
Then they have a scene with xxxxx ascending with four steal stages just to
show that the BC would lift that much more.
Now I understand that they are making an appeal against the boat captain
because he has no insurance so will not have a lawyer to represent him. No
they will not get any real money but they can set a example they could use
in future cases against boat captains in similar situations. or any
accidents for that matter.
Thought you might want to know more about what happened than what is stated
on tech diver
>end
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