Dylan Harrison's family to sue PADI and NAUI over daughter's dive death

The family of Dylan Harrison, who died on a junior scuba diving course in Texas on August 16, 2025, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against training agencies PADI and NAUI, and against the dive businesses and individuals who were involved in the tragic incident.

Heather and Mitchell Harrison allege in the 40-page document that their daughter's death was preventable, and systemic failures in training standards, supervision and safety in the scuba training of minors all contributed to Dylan's death while she was undertaking an entry-level course at the Scuba Ranch lake.

Multiple failures have been uncovered since Dylan died, including dive police failing to recover dive computer data - Dive Master Jonathan Roussel's computer was 'lost' after he was asked to produce it - and Dylan's instructor William Armstrong being sleep-deprived after working a 24-hour shift before the incident in his day job as a  deputy sheriff, and his night-shift as a watchman.

According to Fox News, the lawsuit alleges Dylan had been buddied with another 12-year-old trainee but Armstrong had failed to carry out a check on her weights. Emergency services were not called until Dylan had already been missing for 15 minutes; the last surface reading of air in her tank and that remaining after the incident suggest she could have survived for minutes, alone in poor visibility and unable to reach the surface.

Witness accounts

Ted Sickels, who was in Dylan's class that was scheduled to run from 8am to 5pm on August 16th, has provided more information to Fox4News about the dive. "He arrived after all the other students had arrived. When he got there it was kind of hurried at that time. He arrived with his wife," Sickels said.

At the start, the class used a line from a white buoy to go to a first platform, then a second - standard procedure for first-time open divers like Dylan. However, Sickels noticed she was struggling. "She was not neutral buoyant. She was having to hold onto the rail of the platform. She was not floating like the rest of us."

Later in the dive, Sickels surfaced, having misunderstood a signal from Armstrong. The whole class surfaced, then Armstrong instructed the class to descend 15 feet (five metres) to simulate a three-minute rest stop - this time without the line from the buoy to the platforms.

"He resubmerged the whole entire class as a group. They got a head count. The head count was off by one. Bill went back down to see if maybe she was on the platform. And I'm sitting there wondering, 'OK, why are you going down there to see if she's on the platform? We're not over there."

Once resurfaced, the class looked for bubbles with Roussel while Armstrong continued to search under the platform. Despite pleas from Dylan's mother to find her daughter, Armstrong said that as long as she kept her regulator in her mouth, she would be OK and they'd find her. Armstrong then got into a car to look for help around the lake.

"Where in the hell is he going? He's a certified rescue diver. Why is he not here leading?" recalls Sickels. He believes if Dylan had gone down the line with an instructor or Dive Master, "none of this would have happened".

Richard Thomas, the owner of International Scuba in Carrollton was at the Scuba Ranch that morning to train a group of scuba instructors. He also spoke to Fox4News to share his concerns.

"When we finally realised it was a girl in water lost from her class, all my instructors had gear already. I had them get in," he said. "I ran over the other shop's pavilion. When I arrived, no-one was doing anything. They were all standing shell-shocked.

"I asked, 'Who's the instructor here? Is there a professional  here? No-one answered."

Once identified, Thomas asked Armstrong to update him. "At that point I asked, 'What is going on? Where did you see her last? I have people in the water, help me out'," he recalls. "He started telling me, 'I didn't do anything wrong'. I said, 'Divers get separated frequently, it could have happened to me. Tell me where you saw her last so we can begin a search.' It was very difficult to get information out of him." Thomas' diver managed to locate Dylan within seven minutes of searching. 

Thomas has many questions, including why Armstrong wasn't in the water when Dylan was still missing. "He was bone dry. I went to the hospital with the family, and I was still wet running into the hospital, so I have questions about that," he says. 

He is also concerned that, according to an email from the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office to  the family's attorney on October 1, that "no data is to be recovered' from the dive computers - something he says is standard protocol, even for minor incidents.

Since the incident, Armstrong has been permanently suspended by NAUI, and has resigned as assistant chief deputy. The Scuba Ranch has also released the following statement:

"We are heartbroken by the recent tragic loss of a young life at our lake. Our deepest sympathy and prayers are with her family and friends, during this unimaginably difficult time.

The Scuba Ranch exists to provide a safe and accessible freshwater environment for qualified Dive Instructors to conduct their training. The Scuba Ranch does not employ Dive Instructors, and does not provide, direct, or supervise instruction received. All Dive Instructors are independent of The Scuba Ranch and not affiliated with us other than as a customer. We do require that all instructors using our facilities follow recognized scuba safety standards outlined by their credentialing agency, as well as professional judgement, to train students safely.

Immediately after this event occurred, out of an abundance of caution, we permanently suspended the instructor (Armstrong) from teaching at our facility.  Scuba Toys was also suspended from training pending the results of this investigation. This step was taken solely to ensure that safety remains the top priority for divers while at The Scuba Ranch.

This tragedy has deeply affected the entire dive community, and we will continue to support those impacted as best we can. We, along with all of you, are awaiting the facts and details to be released with complete transparency so that we may learn from what happened.The Scuba Ranch has and continues to be fully cooperating with the ongoing investigation and remains committed to supporting all efforts to understand what happened. We pray this family receives the answers, justice, and closure they deserve, and that all of the dive community would be strengthened through what we learn from this tragedy."