12-year-old allegedly alive underwater for minutes before fatal scuba class failure: lawsuit

The grieving parents of a Texas miss who drowned during a scuba certification people person filed a suit against 2 agencies alleging the child’s decease was preventable. 

On Aug. 16, 2025, 12-year-old Dylan Harrison attended a backstage unfastened h2o people purchased by her parents from Scubatoys, a section dive-shop, according to FOX 4. 

When the household reportedly arrived astatine The Scuba Ranch, a scuba grooming instrumentality located successful adjacent Terrell, they were told their girl would beryllium placed successful a radical of 7 students. 

The suit besides alleges the divemaster assured Dylan’s parents up of the class, telling them, "I volition not instrumentality my eyes disconnected your daughter."

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12-year-old Dylan Harrison drowned portion attending a backstage unfastened h2o people successful Terrell, Texas connected Aug. 16, 2025, according to a lawsuit. (Dylan Harrison)

At the clip of the class, Assistant Chief Deputy for the Collin County Sheriff’s Office William Armstrong was employed part-time arsenic a scuba instructor, and had antecedently worked a afloat time arsenic a lawman followed by a afloat overnight displacement arsenic a information serviceman astatine an concern firm, FOX 4 reported. 

As Dylan and her 12-year-old swimming buddy entered the water, Armstrong allegedly did not cheque if Dylan was decently weighted, the suit reportedly states. 

Dylan was past seen live erstwhile the people initially entered the h2o astatine 9:36 a.m. and resurfaced astatine 10:12 a.m. aft a miscommunication with a student.

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Dylan Harrison died successful a scuba diving mishap portion taking a people astatine the Scuba Ranch successful Terrell, Texas connected Aug. 16, 2025, according to a lawsuit. (Google Maps)

The suit alleges that exigency services were not called to the country until astir 15 minutes later. 

"Based connected the magnitude of aerial near successful [Dylan’s] scuba vessel connected the aboveground earlier she went missing and the magnitude of aerial near successful the vessel erstwhile she was found, it tin beryllium surmised that [she] was live and breathing disconnected her vessel for respective minutes aft she was past seen," the suit revealed, according to FOX 4. "During this time, [Dylan] was alone, successful mediocre visibility, and incapable to scope the surface."

Following the incident, Armstrong resigned from his presumption with the Collin County Sheriff’s Office.

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The backstage unfastened h2o people was reportedly purchased from Scubatoys successful Carrollton, Texas, according to the lawsuit. (Google Maps)

The 40-page suit alleges Dylan’s decease was preventable and the effect of aggregate failures aft the manufacture turned a unsighted oculus to information concerns for respective years.

Attorneys for the Harrison household reportedly constituent to a 2017 video of a unit meeting, successful which Scubatoy proprietor Joe Johnson allegedly made dismissive comments astir the information protocols wrong the company’s classes, FOX 4 reported.

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"All I cognize is we've killed, what? 4 people? 5 people? And we've ne'er adjacent done a deposition,"  Johnson said successful the video. "Our security institution conscionable settles. John Witherspoon says we tin termination 2 radical a twelvemonth and ‘we are fine.’"

Scubatoys, NAUI, PADI, the Scuba Ranch and the Harrison family’s lawyer did not instantly respond to Fox News Digital’s petition for comment. Fox News Digital was incapable to instantly find an lawyer representing Armstrong.