39 replies to this topic

[Brinybay]

http://sturly.com/j9e

29th July 2008
A former scuba instructor at the University of Alabama has been charged with criminally negligent homicide in the death of one of her students in class last year.

Allison Rainey Gibson, 44, turned herself into authorities Friday after being indicted by a grand jury last month.

Student Zachary Moore, 21, died from an air embolism in April 2007. Moore apparently ascended to the surface of the pool too quickly and didn't exhale to release some of the air in his lungs, officials said at the time.

"They felt obviously that there was negligence on the part of the instructor that rose to a criminal level," said Capt. Lloyd Baker, commander of the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit.

A junior from Fairhope, Moore was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity and was taking business classes. UA stopped offering the scuba class following his death, said UA spokeswoman Cathy Andreen. Gibson was contracted to work
for the university, she said, and no longer teaches there.

Criminally negligent homicide is a Class A misdemeanor and is punishable of up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Court records provide no information about what evidence the grand jury heard before deciding to indict Gibson. According to the indictment, members of the grand jury believe that Gibson failed to directly supervise Moore as he performed the dangerous exercise.

Moore died from an air embolism, which occurs after air bubbles form in the bloodstream and stop blood from reaching vital organs. They occur in scuba accidents because divers are breathing pressurized air.

Around 20 members of the beginning scuba class were participating in an exercise in which they dove to the bottom of the pool, left their equipment on the bottom and ascended back to the surface.

Moore apparently returned to the surface of the pool at the UA Aquatic Center too quickly and didn't exhale to release some of the air, according to the autopsy report.

[ScubaSis]

This is a very sad thing.....not too sure even what to say, but sad.

[JimG]

Not to take anything away from the gravity of this incident or its aftermath, but let's get the facts straight. The instructor was charged with criminally negligent homicide, not murder. This is clearly stated in the quoted news article, and I personally think the topic title should be changed to reflect that.

-JimG

Edited by cmt489, 30 July 2008 - 07:34 AM.
Topic title has been corrected to properly reflect the charges.

[Latitude Adjustment]

Since we were all told in class not to hold our breath I don't see how this is going to hold up in court but of course no one on the jury can be a diver or have ever known one!

[dustbowl diver]

A very tragic event for all parties involved! My thoughts go out to all affected by this!!

[PerroneFord]

...but of course no one on the jury can be a diver or have ever known one!

What? How do you come by this bit of info.

[BubbleBoy]

I feel very bad for the student. But, it seems almost impossible to me that he didn't have cause to know that he shouldn't have held his breath like he did. That fact is emphasised over and over in every beginning instruction course that I have ever observed and in every basic diving manual I have ever read.

It would be interesting to know if any of the other students in the course felt they were properly instructed on this matter.

[davekemph]

I feel for the student also, but the class I took covered everything the first night before we got near the water.
well, not everything, but defenatly the part of not holding your breath.
about the only reason I can think of for him holding his breath is he panicked and thought he had to surface right that instant. I have seen other students do this, but they were all blowing bubbles as they went.

[Bubble2Bubble]

I'm Very Sad for all that are affected by this tragedy.
But I am curious like BubbleBoy is...

It would be interesting to know if any of the other students in the course felt they were properly instructed on this matter.

Mike

Edited by Bubble2Bubble, 30 July 2008 - 08:00 AM.

[Neptuner]

...but of course no one on the jury can be a diver or have ever known one!

What? How do you come by this bit of info.

Hey PF, I think what LA is saying is that due to the nature and methodology used to select jury members, any prosecuting attorney is going to automatically dismiss anyone who might be sympathetic to the dive instructor, which basically includes anyone who has ever dove or has friends that dive. I would agree with him here, I think the jury will end up being a bunch of people who know little or nothing about diving and to me that's not particularly fair and IMHO it's not really a jury of peers either.

This whole story is very, very sad, as is any tragedy, but along with everyone else, I would have to challenge the assumption that the dive instructor is at fault for something a student should have known well and apparently all the other students did. Of course, we're only seeing a fractional splinter of all the facts in the case, but quite frankly, how can an instructor more closely supervise your exhaling? Seems to me that it may just be opening another can of worms in the never-ending "age of unaccountability" that reigns supreme in our country these days. Very sad.

[drbill]

A sad incident, and my condolences to the friends and family, but...

The very first time I used SCUBA (back in 1961), the one and only thing my swim team friend told me was "Don't hold your breath." That was just an informal situation, not a class. I can't imagine an actual class session that wasn't preceded by this advice.

[diverdeb]

...but of course no one on the jury can be a diver or have ever known one!

What? How do you come by this bit of info.

This is a misconception that was brought up quite a bit on another thread not long ago (the death of the wife on her honeymoon in Australia). Attorneys only have so many strikes when picking a jury and it is very possible a diver could end up on the jury. Attorneys and paralegals usually don't get picked either, but I've known paralegals that have been picked and even grand juries to include attorneys before.

[ScubaSis]

I am NAUI certified. My instructor had us take our gear off and then put it back on in the bottom of the pool, but we had out regulators in our mouths. When we did our Open Water test we did do a fast surface, but still had our gear on and he told us to take our regulators out and blow bubbles to the surface. He told us over and over again to blow bubbles when our regs were not in our mouths, not to hold our breath. I felt I was getting really good training. When I talk to friends about the training they have gotten and the training I recieved, I feel my instructor did a great job in prepairing me for the dangers involved in diving.

I feel for both sides of this situation. All we can do at this point is hope that ALL points are brought out in this particular case. No one ever wants to see a death, but you also don't want to see someone wrongly accused while trying to do there job.

[Latitude Adjustment]

As an instructor I'm a little confused. In what beginning class do you leave the gear at the bottom of the pool and surface? I am both a NAUI and PADI Instructor and I have never done that in my open water courses. The first time I ever ditched my gear at the bottom of the pool was either in my Master Diver or Divemaster class.

Taking the gear off and returning to the surface without it was common practice in the old PADI/YMCA classes of the early 70's when I worked as a DM. The student would then dive back down, turn on the air, put on weight belt and clear the mask before doning the rest of the gear.