Strangers rescue diver - Titlow Beach Park, Washington

[DandyDon]

It seems that couple on the beach swam out to pull her ashore where the fire department took her to ER. Something in the footnotes about another diver being taken away by boat, but they don't make it clear. See....
Diver rescued by strangers near Tacoma beach

 

[Brian McCarthy]

The diver in this case, Therese Schick Knowles, never regained consciousness and died in St. Joseph's about a week later.

I was friends with Terry since elementary school, some 49 years. She came to Australia where I now live, and spent a week on a live-aboard on the Great Barrier Reef a couple years ago. She was also a 30+ year Special Education teacher at the Clover Park school district.

There are lots of unanswered questions about this "accident", especially since Terry had been diving in the Puget Sound for some 20 years. There is a huge conflict between the police report and her "dive buddy" about whether or not Terry was wearing a buoyancy compensator. Terry owned a BC and since she was dry suit certified she was well aware of the need for this equipment. Not only is this fact in contention, if she WAS wearing it, why did it not function as intended? The reports from the scene indicate that she was first spotted "fins out" of the water.

I've attempted to determine what dive shop she was affiliated with because she wasn't filling her own tanks. Everyone seems to be shut-down on where she was going.

Pierce County Medical Examiner Clark (tclark@co.pierce.wa.us) seems to be content to put this into the "never mind" pile instead of fulfilling their charter which says "The public deserves to know what hazards and events are causing sudden and unnatural deaths in their communities”.

There were dozens of people nearby when the accident first was reported and I would guess someone with photos or video on the smartphones.

It's important to determine what exactly went wrong, for the good of the community as well as her friends and family.

 

[Ayisha]

The reports from the scene indicate that she was first spotted "fins out" of the water.

So do you mean that she was found floating upside down in her drysuit with her fins up out of the water?

 

[Brian McCarthy]

So do you mean that she was found floating upside down in her drysuit with her fins up out of the water?

Yes, that was the report. . . .

 

[DandyDon]

Terry had been diving in the Puget Sound for some 20 years. There is a huge conflict between the police report and her "dive buddy" about whether or not Terry was wearing a buoyancy compensator. Terry owned a BC and since she was dry suit certified she was well aware of the need for this equipment. Not only is this fact in contention, if she WAS wearing it, why did it not function as intended? The reports from the scene indicate that she was first spotted "fins out" of the water.

1: Odd that there is conflict as to whether she was wearing a BCD (buoyancy control/compensator device). There are other devices, similar but different to divers, but she would be wearing one or the other diving. A dry suit hooked to her air tank would serve other purposes and add to buoyancy somewhat, but not serve as a replacement.
2: There is a risk with dry suit diving of allowing too much air to the feet & ankle area when a diver tilts head down. It happened to be once on a dry suit discover dive, but I had been taught how to roll out of the challenge, and since she was dry suit certified with 20 years experience diving Puget, I presume she was capable - altho we all are also at risk at losing basic skills we previously knew.
3: One of the rescuers in the video said she had her regulator out of her mouth - never good in any challenge. We are all trained in reg recovery, if we don't skip periodic practice and lose that skill, but a dry suit inversion challenge coupled with a reg recovery challenge could be especially challenging. I would hate to have to do both at the same time. True, I am not an experienced dry suit diver, but then we have lost divers we knew well here on Scuba Board, who were very experienced, but made errors with simple tasks.

I am speaking loosely here in my speculations as I certainly do not know what happened in this accident, but can imagine dangerous possibilities with that combination of challenges.

 

[rjack321]

Yes, that was the report. . . .

That (feet up, with air in the legs) would tend to happen when the drysuit isn't vented during ascent.

"Buoyancy compensators" or BCs are not designed to float the wearer face up or head up in the water like a coast guard life jacket. Some may do this, depending on the tank and lead worn. Most will not and none are certified by anyone to do so. That's not their purpose; they are made so provide neutral buoyancy under the water and ideally also allow the diver to float (underwater) horizontally.

 

[KevinNM]

The whole incident sounds to me like it started with some severe medical issue that incapacitated her and led to her drifting up to where she was found. But that is purely a guess. Certainly bad gas could do it too. The autopsy and equipment check should show it there were any obvious issues.

 

[Brian McCarthy]

Well I'm the OP on this incident, and three months later there are still few answers as to the cause of this tragic accident.

The "dive buddy" the day of the incident with my friend is a special education teacher in the Clover Park School district by the name of Sherry Knutson. She has refused to respond to my requests for an explanation of what happened on this day, and has refused to explain why the Tacoma Police have confirmed the victim was not wearing her BCD.

Ms. Knutson DID get her daughter Sarah to launch "anonymous" email attacks on me but it was easy to identify the source of this harassment.

Apparently under Washington State law only immediate family are entitled to the Medical Examiner's report - perhaps an issue that the dive community should be concerned about in these kinds of accidents. How can any group of hobbyists identify areas of poor education and training if they don't know what's caused an accident?

The victim's daughter has started an unregistered "charity" on GoFundMe in the victim's name. You can draw your own conclusions from this activity.

Several of Terry's real friends are very concerned about the incident, and if the only way to get the "dive buddy" to speak is via a lawsuit, that's likely now what's going to happen. We've already retained a lawyer in the Tacoma area familiar with SCUBA diving accidents, and this will at least get Ms. Knutson under oath in a deposition. Is anyone legally culpable? We don't know. . . . but we're trying to find out.

 

[Steelyeyes]

Fins up, no BCD on, reg out. Not a good way to be. If it was a weight integrated BCD it would explain how she ended up surfaced like that if she had removed it underwater for some reason. Hmm.

 

[DandyDon]

Well I'm the OP on this incident, and three months later there are still few answers as to the cause of this tragic accident.

I appreciate your sharing info, but check your private messages inbox.