Seaman James Derek Lovelace
A medical examiner has ruled a Navy SEAL trainee who died after being dunked repeatedly in water by an instructor, and whose death was initially listed as an accidental drowning, was actually the victim of a homicide.
The examiner’s report calling the death a “homicide” was released Wednesday, though the death occurred weeks ago, NBC News reported.
Seaman James Derek Lovelace, 21, died on May 6 after a training incident. But Navy officials only spoke of the incident in the most generic of terms, labeling it a training accident – until NBC News and the Virginian-Pilot pressed for more explanation.
Sources then told the news outlets Lovelace’s death was due to an instructor taking his training too far, and ignoring the trainee’s obvious distress in the water. Lovelace, along with others being trained, was required to tread water in full combat fatigues and boots.
A video of the incident reportedly reveals an “instructor in the water approach[ing] the decedent and apparently dunk[ing] the decedent underwater,” in contrast to training policy that dunking is not advised, NBC News reported, quoting the medical examiner’s report.
“Over the course of the next approximately five minutes, the instructor follows the decedent around the pool, continuously splashing him with water,” the report from the medical examiner’s office stated, NBC News reported. “The decedent is also splashed by other instructors in the water. Throughout the time period, the decedent is observed to go under the water multiple times.”
The medical examiner also said another trainee actually tried to help Lovelace keep his head above water at one point.
“The instructor appears to again dunk the decedent and continues to follow him around the water. The instructor also appears to pull the decedent partially up and out of the water and then push him back. Eventually, the decedent is assisted to the side of the pool where he is pulled from the water,” the medical examiner wrote.
Lovelace shortly after died. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has now launched an investigation.
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