Posted on 07/11/2005 2:10:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
COLUMBUS, Ohio - As he combed the murky depths of the Scioto River, Ed Schillig wondered how he would find the 21-year-old man's body.
"Am I going to bump into him? Is he going to press against my mask?" said the six-year veteran of Franklin County's dive-rescue team, recalling the assignment on June 4.
Eventually, Schillig's hand brushed the torso of David Roller, who had fallen out of a boat about three hours earlier.
"It's a personal experience, because there's no one else there," Schillig said.
Dive teams are expecially busy in the summer, when people flock to waterways throughout the state. At least one water-rescue or dive team is available to public safety agencies in each of Ohio's 88 counties. About 200 teams operate statewide.
Divers' primary goal is lifesaving, but they also have to try to preserve crime scenes, even underwater. Besides recovering bodies, divers also search for weapons, cars and other evidence.
The job is demanding and the training difficult.
"We don't take everybody," said Jim Plumb, a deputy who trains the Franklin County dive team. "They may be good sport divers and deputies, but that doesn't make them good at this."
Franklin County divers - a part-time team of nine full-time sheriff's employees and two auxiliary members - endured rigorous physical tests and agreed to be on-call 24 hours a day before joining the team. They practice monthly, simulating search and rescue operations.
When divers are immersed in murky, debris-littered inland waters, they use sonar and satellite-navigation systems, but nothing replaces their finely honed sense of touch.
"You've made your whole body sensitive to what you're looking for," said Michael Gast, of the National Academy of Police Diving.
Diving can be dangerous. Gast said overconfidence and inadequate training can lead to injury or death. Since 1960, 51 public-safety divers have died in the line of duty, according to the International Association of Dive Rescue Specialists. Three of those were from Ohio.
Uncovering bodies of drowning victims also can take a toll on divers.
"I've done lots and lots of crying," said Steve Boyd, 31, a Richland County diver.
As a rule, divers try to avoid personalizing their mission and remain focused on the task at hand rather than the person involved. Police also keep victims' families away from the water's edge to ease their own stress and put distance between them and the divers.
"We don't want our divers to know any more about the family than they have to," said Allen County Sheriff Dan Beck, a veteran diver. "It causes you to lose your focus."
Dive teams regularly respond to calls at state parks, said Bob Dorinsky, who manages the law-enforcement arm of the parks division of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Four people have drowned this year at beaches in Ohio's 74 state parks, and five people have died in boating accidents, according to department statistics.
"We would have a real mess on our hands if it wasn't for dive teams," Dorinsky said. "I cannot tell you how valuable they are."
There's a great book written by the first diver to go down on the USS Arizona after the Dec. 7 attack and his description of the horrors he came across will give you chills. I think it's called "Descent Into Darkness."
All of these guys, both military and civilian, have balls of steel.
Later on they also used him from time to time to recover bodies. At the time (early 80’s) “cave diving” was all the rage in northern FL.
People found out that there were networks of little underwater caves feeding the ponds… they lost quite a few recreational divers farting around in the caves.
He said you just cruise along looking for a personal item lying on the floor of the cave – then you look up. That’s where he’ll be floating, right up against the ceiling. He helped recover at least three or four people like that.
He’s also considered to be legally deaf due, according to him, from ear infections that resulted from diving in “nasty water.”
I can do without all that - that's all I know.
The Ohio dive team that they are profiling might be part of a broader water rescue organization, in which case "saving lives" would be the overall mission -- just not appropriate for the SCUBA division. We are much more likely to be working with police detectives & coroners than paramedics.
God bless you. I couldn't do it.....fear of the deep, dontchaknow.....
Absolutely...never forget to look 'up'.
Did this 25 yrs ago for a variety of Counties who did not have their own dive teams..
Our focus was on getting closure for the families as quickly and safely as we could..
One deeper dive we very nearly lost a deputy...
The worst part is that the family stood by for nearly a week
as we tried to find their husband and father..only to turn
out he had faked his death...and turned up in Florida a few years later..
Living with his new girlfriend and a lot of money..
Looking for young children was the worst...
I hope I spelled your name correctly....I am the sister of David the 21 year old boy you found this day.....I juss want to thank you for finding my brother for us...I dont know if my family could have handled his death without being able to lay his body to rest....I can never thank you enough for the pieces of yourself that you sacrifice to bring peopke home to their love ones....and I truely believe there is a special place in heaven for angels like you
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