The grieving mother and father of a Texas lady who drowned throughout a scuba certification class have filed a lawsuit in opposition to two companies alleging the kid’s dying 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, a neighborhood dive-shop, in response to FOX 4.
When the household reportedly arrived at The Scuba Ranch, a scuba coaching take situated in close by Terrell, they have been instructed their daughter could 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 cannot take my eyes off your daughter.”
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12-year-old Dylan Harrison drowned whereas attending a personal open water class in Terrell, Texas on Aug. 16, 2025, in response to a lawsuit.
(Fox Information)
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.
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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 scholar.
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The lawsuit alleges that emergency companies weren’t referred to as to the scene till about quarter-hour later.
“Based mostly 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 respiration off her tank for a number of minutes after she was final seen,” the lawsuit revealed, in response to FOX 4. “Throughout this time, [Dylan] was alone, in poor visibility, and unable to succeed in the floor.”
Following the incident, Armstrong resigned from his place with the Collin County Sheriff’s Workplace.
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The 40-page lawsuit alleges Dylan’s dying 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 in regards to the security protocols throughout the firm’s courses, FOX 4 reported.
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“All I do know is we have killed, what? 4 folks? 5 folks? And we have by no means even executed a deposition,” Johnson mentioned within the video. “Our insurance coverage firm simply settles. John Witherspoon says we will kill two folks a 12 months and ‘we’re high-quality.’”
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 instantly find an legal professional representing Armstrong.
Unique article supply: 12-year-old allegedly alive underwater for minutes earlier than deadly scuba class failure: lawsuit