Inspection Detail

Inspection: 307849711 - City Of Phoenix Police Department Homicide Unit

Inspection Information - Office: Arizona Division Of Occupational Safety And Health (Adosh)

Investigation Summary

At approximately 7:00 p.m. on May 10, 2004, Employee #1, a police officer, was part of a dive team comprised of eight employees that were assigned to search the canal for a wheelchair belonging to a woman whose body had been found in the canal. The team, all of them divers, consisted of two vehicle drivers, a line tender, a standby diver, and four divers, including Employee #1. They were using a system of guide ropes that consisted of a half-inch diameter nylon tow line, which spanned the canal north to south, 25 ft, and was attached to vehicles on opposite sides of the canal. The tow line had four polypropylene guide ropes with loops on the ends. The dive team members held onto a loop and were slowly pulled through the water by the vehicle as they felt along the bottom for the evidence. Employee #1 released his line and the line tender and the driver on the south side of the canal noticed that a line was loose. The drivers pulled on the tow line to signal to the other divers to surface and at that time it was determined that Employee #1 was missing. The dive team members located bubbles in front of radial gate Number 1. They looked behind the gate where the water was approximately 2.5 ft in depth. Employee #1's legs were observed sticking out from under the gate with his legs towards the west and his torso towards the east upstream. Emergency 911 was called, and the dive team members called a department who could open the gate remotely. Approximately 9 minutes after Employee #1 was observed, the gate was opened and his body was retrieved from the water. He was resuscitated and taken to a hospital, where he died several days later.

Keywords: ASPHYXIATED, ROPE, DROWN, DIVER, WATER