This makes NO sense whatsoever. You either jump in, or you don't jump in. There's NO in-between.
How about "the friend declined to jump in"?
FOUL PLAY is worth investigating here.
Yeah I saw that line, and this one:
“...After witnessing Knittle plunge into the water,
the friend tried to grab the line but missed...”
Dude and pole were in the water, was the line still on deck?
Saw that too.
If one tries to jump in, gravity usually does the rest of the work, and then, you’re in.
Perhaps there was a local gravity anomaly that caused in to go up into the air instead of down into the water. You never know.
“This makes NO sense whatsoever. You either jump in, or you don’t jump in. There’s NO in-between.’
He tried to jump in but missed.