A family’s world shattered on a summer morning in Texas when their 12-year-old daughter, Dylan Harrison, drowned during a scuba certification class. Now, her grieving parents are seeking answers and accountability, filing a lawsuit alleging her death was tragically preventable.
Dylan’s parents had purchased a private open water class from a local dive shop, hoping to introduce their daughter to the wonders of the underwater world. Upon arriving at the training facility, they were assured their daughter would be closely supervised – a promise that would prove devastatingly broken.
The lawsuit details a disturbing sequence of events. Dylan was placed in a group of seven students, and the divemaster reportedly told her parents, “I will not take my eyes off your daughter.” This assurance offered a false sense of security, masking a reality of inadequate oversight and compromised safety.
Adding to the tragedy, the instructor, a part-time employee of the Collin County Sheriff’s Office, had already worked a full day as a deputy and an overnight shift as a security officer. Fatigue and overextension appear to have played a role in the unfolding disaster.
As Dylan and a friend entered the water, the instructor allegedly failed to verify that Dylan was properly weighted for the dive. This critical oversight, the lawsuit claims, contributed directly to the circumstances that led to her disappearance.
Dylan was last seen alive at 9:36 a.m. A miscommunication within the class led to a delay in realizing she was missing, and she resurfaced at 10:12 a.m. – too late. The precious minutes lost proved fatal.
The lawsuit alleges a further delay of approximately 15 minutes before emergency services were contacted. During this agonizing period, Dylan remained underwater, alone and struggling, with a diminishing air supply.
Investigators determined that Dylan was alive and breathing from her tank for several minutes after she was last seen. Trapped in poor visibility, unable to reach the surface, she faced a terrifying and ultimately insurmountable struggle.
Following the incident, the instructor resigned from his position with the Sheriff’s Office. The lawsuit paints a picture of systemic failures and a disregard for safety protocols that extended beyond a single individual.
A 40-page legal document alleges a pattern of negligence, claiming the industry had ignored safety concerns for years. Attorneys for the Harrison family uncovered a disturbing 2017 video that appears to reveal a callous attitude towards safety within the dive shop.
In the video, the dive shop owner allegedly made shocking statements, casually referencing past fatalities. He claimed the company had “killed” four or five people and that their insurance company routinely settled claims without further investigation.
According to the video, an insurance representative reportedly told the owner they could afford to cause two deaths per year and “be fine.” This chilling admission underscores a deeply troubling disregard for human life and a prioritization of profit over safety.
The lawsuit seeks to hold multiple parties accountable – the dive shop, the certification agencies, and the training facility – for their alleged negligence and the preventable loss of a young life. It is a desperate plea for justice and a demand for change within an industry that appears to have prioritized complacency over the safety of its students.
