Update on this accident. Suit has been filed. Pretty horrifying as described. Warning, there are some graphic photos in the suit.
Suit filed in case of "Girl dead, boy injured at Glacier National Park
- Thread starter Jim Lapenta
- Start date
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Inexperienced diver put in as AOW student in the middle of drysuit class, sold used drysuit when her rental wetsuit was too cold, put into said drysuit without inflator hose attached by unqualified instructor working for dive shop currently in litigation for wrongful death of another diver because the shop rented scuba equipment to the prior dead diver who had no formal certification to dive. Did I get that all?
Wow. That poor girl. Very educational on how bad dry suit squeeze can get. The dive shop/instructor behavior was beyond negligent.
It would take far too long to list all the things that were done wrong in this horror show. I just want to go over a couple of points that are not really mentioned explicitly (unless I missed them in this mind-numbing reading) or questions that I have after that reading.
- It is not clear to me that the dive center was officially expelled by PADI prior to that incident, although it is strongly suggested. They never list a statement indicating that, simply saying that the shop is not listed. I checked the PADI professional journal and find no related expulsions--even after this incident.
- They said that the instructor (Snow) was new to instruction and had received all her instructor training in Key Largo. Unless I missed it, it is not clear when she got drysuit training or if she had drysuit instructor qualifications.
- I must assume that during that year, Snow and others must have done a fair amount of drysuit diving. If so, it is incomprehensible that they would have thought that the victim could do the planned dive without inflating the suit. They should have known the pressure would have been unbearable. In my early days of drysuit diving, I made the mistake of starting a dive with my inflation bottle only partially open. At about 30 feet it stopped working. I had it open and working by the time I reached 50 feet. After that few seconds in that shallow a depth, my body was covered with bruises.
- It is incomprehensible that an instructor with ANY cold water experience would believe that BCD alone could support as much weight as they gave her.
- I cannot understand how Snow was not expelled by PADI immediately after this episode. I know of two previous cases in which instructors were expelled within a week after a fatality, and neither was as bad as this.
pauldw
Contributor
I hope Bob is OK. Does anyone know? What a nightmare!
Just starting to read this. I know one of the defendants.
Without telling which one you know, you’ll have to tell us if you knew said defendant is as unethical and incompetent as in the suit.
runsongas
Contributor
could just be the person who sold the used drysuit, I still don't understand why they are named as a defendant.
Definitely not unethical. I cannot speak about competence as I have not seen that. Personally, when I first became an instructor, I was pretty darn incompetent. I cannot speak to the level of incompetence described in the document as I haven't read it. However even early on as an instructor, I stopped the training of a few students who were cold in 52 F / 11 C water/air temperatures after one dive (this was in March). I simply would never teach in the snow (which doesn't happen often in Seattle), but some shops do not cancel classes in those events.
EDIT: I'm at 186. WT Holy F! Will read later tonight. Even before being independent, I was giving students my own gear to compensate for improper shop provided gear.
EDIT2: read through the rest of the description of the incident. The video from Bob is critical. While some claims are nonsense (dry suit squeeze is fatal at 100 feet - no it isn't, I once rushed into the water, forgot to attach my dry suit hose, was pissed at myself, so stubbornly continued to descend and attached it well past 100 feet. Was VERY uncomfortable and that stress would have been too much for a new diver their first time in a dry suit without a means to inflate).
I can't believe what I'm reading. While there is some embellishment, the overall premise seems indisputable.
I just can't believe this level negligence occurred. Not because I know one of the defendants, but because it defies common sense. Unskilled divers. No pool time. Extreme cold temperatures. Improper/missing equipment. Setting sun. NO EMERGENCY PLAN/MEANS TO CALL FOR HELP! The list goes on.
