The grieving mother and father of a Texas lady who drowned throughout a scuba certification class have filed a lawsuit towards two businesses alleging the kid’s loss of life was preventable.
On Aug. 16, 2025, 12-year-old Dylan Harrison attended a personal open water class bought by her mother and father from Scubatoys, an area dive-shop, in accordance with FOX 4.
When the household reportedly arrived at The Scuba Ranch, a scuba coaching take situated in close by Terrell, they had been instructed their daughter can be positioned in a bunch of seven college students.
The lawsuit additionally alleges the divemaster assured Dylan’s mother and father forward of the category, telling them, “I can’t take my eyes off your daughter.”
On the time of the category, Assistant Chief Deputy for the Collin County Sheriff’s Workplace William Armstrong was employed part-time as a scuba teacher, and had beforehand labored a full day as a deputy adopted by a full in a single day shift as a safety officer at an funding agency, FOX 4 reported.
As Dylan and her 12-year-old swimming buddy entered the water, Armstrong allegedly didn’t test if Dylan was correctly weighted, the lawsuit reportedly states.
Dylan was final seen alive when the category initially entered the water at 9:36 a.m. and resurfaced at 10:12 a.m. after a miscommunication with a pupil.
The lawsuit alleges that emergency providers weren’t referred to as to the scene till about quarter-hour later.
“Primarily based on the quantity of air left in [Dylan’s] scuba tank on the floor earlier than she went lacking and the quantity of air left within the tank when she was discovered, it may be surmised that [she] was alive and respiratory off her tank for a number of minutes after she was final seen,” the lawsuit revealed, in accordance with FOX 4. “Throughout this time, [Dylan] was alone, in poor visibility, and unable to achieve the floor.”
Following the incident, Armstrong resigned from his place with the Collin County Sheriff’s Workplace.
The 40-page lawsuit alleges Dylan’s loss of life was preventable and the results of a number of failures after the trade turned a blind eye to security issues for a number of years.
Attorneys for the Harrison household reportedly level to a 2017 video of a employees assembly, wherein Scubatoy proprietor Joe Johnson allegedly made dismissive feedback concerning the security protocols throughout the firm’s courses, FOX 4 reported.
“All I do know is we’ve killed, what? 4 folks? 5 folks? And we’ve by no means even achieved a deposition,” Johnson stated within the video. “Our insurance coverage firm simply settles. John Witherspoon says we will kill two folks a yr and ‘we’re advantageous.’”
Scubatoys, NAUI, PADI, the Scuba Ranch and the Harrison household’s legal professional didn’t instantly reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for remark.
Fox Information Digital was unable to right away find an legal professional representing Armstrong.
