Latest / Murders to Music: Crime Scene to Music Scene (Streamline Events and Entertainment) / From Submersion to Survival: Near-Drowning, Heart Stopping Dives, and Law Enforcement Laughter

Transcript

From Submersion to Survival: Near-Drowning, Heart Stopping Dives, and Law Enforcement Laughter · Murders to Music: Crime Scene to Music Scene (Streamline Events and Entertainment)

• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Well, what is going on everybody?
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Murders to Music podcast.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: My name is Aaron, I'm your host and thank you so much for coming back for another week.
• 0:33
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• 0:54
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• 0:58
  Speaker 1: All right, so tonight's episode is going to be a little bit different than what we've done in the past.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: It's going to be talking about scuba diving.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: So let's just dive right in, no pun intended.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: So let's go back to 1998.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I got certified as a diver in 1998.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: My wife tried diving a couple times throughout the years and then about seven years ago, my son wanted to get certified as a scuba diver.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: So I took Keegan and we did the pool sessions here in town and then from there we had to go up to just outside Seattle in Hood Sport, hood Canal, and he got his certification there and he did his checkout dives.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: So now I've got a scuba diving buddy and we go back up to the Hood Canal about two weeks after he got certified and we're going to do a fun dive.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: So it's going to be he and I.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: We didn't know other people were going to be up there.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: My son, justice, wanted to go with us, so he came along.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: He's not a diver but he wanted to watch, wanted to go with us, so we he came along.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: He's not a diver but he wanted to watch.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: So that day we got to the hood sport the hotel there which is also the dive operation, and we were going to do a shore dive.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: The dive plan was we were going to swim out about 60 feet, 70 feet offshore.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: We were going to descend, do a dive in about 60 feet of water, 70 feet of water, and then we were going to surface and come back to the shore.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: It was going to be a very simple dive.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: It was going to be exciting.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: It was our first dive as a father-son duo without any instructors, and we had all the gear and we were set up and ready to go.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: So that morning we get up early and we get in the car and we make about a four or five hour drive out to the Hood Canal.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: We got to the Hood Canal and, lo and behold, we found other scuba divers there.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: There was a class of scuba divers and the instructor for that class is a gentleman named Mark.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Mark was Keegan's dive instructor.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: He's the one that certified Keegan to scuba dive.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: So I know Mark Keegan knows Mark.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: It he's the one that certified Keegan to scuba dive.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: So I know Mark Keegan knows Mark.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: It was great to see him.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Keegan and I suit up.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Justice is going to watch.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: So he goes up to a balcony, a deck that overlooks the ocean, and he's going to watch us.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: So Keegan and I get in the water and we swim out about 60, 80 feet.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: When we get out there we're going to descend.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Now, on the way out, keegan, being brand new, had some issues with his flippers and just mechanical things that he had on his body because he was wearing a lot of gear.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: You got to understand this kid's probably 100 pounds, wearing 100 pounds of gear, 70 pounds of gear.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: So we get out into the water.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: I help him along the way and while I'm helping him, you see, if you're not a diver, you have two air sources.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: You have the air source you breathe on, the regulator you breathe on, and then you have a secondary regulator that's attached to your chest, right about the center of your chest, and that is for emergencies.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: So if you get into an emergency, you always have an air source there.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: If your buddy gets into an emergency, they can always come up and grab your second air source and breathe off of it if something bad were to happen.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: So as I'm on my way out, keegan needs some help, I help him and I lose my second source.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: It just falls out of its little cradle that it's in and it's dangling there.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: So, instead of me putting it back where it goes, because I'm impatient and lazy and just needed to get it done with Keegan, I shoved it under a strap and didn't think anything else about it and didn't think anything else about it.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: So as we get out into the water we're now out there in probably 60 to 70 foot depth, about 70 feet offshore the current is going out.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: So the current is pulling us away from shore and outbound parallel to the shore but headed out.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: So, keegan, we're trying to descend.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: We give each other the descend signal, we try to go down.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: I'm able to go under.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Keegan doesn't have enough weight in his buoyancy control device or his BCD.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: That's that inflatable thing life jacket that they wear that allows them to float on the surface, or you let all the air out and allows them to sink.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: So I'm out there trying to give Keegan some weight from my BCD into his Well.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: While this is happening, it's pretty choppy and we're taking on some water.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: We're getting hit in the face with these waves and I feel like I'm sinking.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: So I inflate, my BCD fills with air and I float and I get hit in the face with a big wave and and it knocks my regulator out.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: I grab my regulator, I put it back in, I recover it, I put it back in and I continue.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I feel like I'm sinking again.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I inflate my BCD and I'm floating.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: I'm talking to Keegan, I take my regulator out to talk and I get hit with another big wave.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: This one chokes me and gags me as it does.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: I drop my regulator accidentally and it floats off behind me somewhere and now I'm getting sucked down again and I can't figure it out.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: So I inflate my BCD and I'm floating.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: And as soon as I let go of the buttons to inflate it, I'm sinking.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: And I have 36 pounds of weight on my waist that is dragging me down into the ocean.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Well, each time I start sinking, I catch more waves in the face.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: I need to breathe.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I'm not a fish.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Water inside the old lungs doesn't feel good and it doesn't have a good outcome.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: So I go for my second regulator, but guess what?
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: It's not where it should be, because I shoved it under a strap and it's now made its way down inside my vest and I can't find it.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: I'm sinking, I'm taking on waves of water.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Before you know it, I'm no longer floating Now.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: I'm under the water, my head is under the water, I'm sucking in water each time I breathe.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I'm kicking hard, but I can't stay floating.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I look at Keegan.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: I'm screaming for help.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Keegan's screaming for help.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: We are probably, I don't know 30, 40 yards parallel to the shore, but down from where we started and we're out about I don't know 150 feet, 100 feet offshore, 150 feet offshore.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: I know that I need to release my weights because if I release my weights there's an emergency release.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Then I will float, but my instinct to stay alive and breathe outweighed my ability to release my weights.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Now I knew what I needed to do, but my brain was in survival mode Breathe, breathe, breathe.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: And every time I sucked in I sucked in a mouthful of water.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: I kept trying to inflate.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: I would inflate for a second and then I would sink.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Keegan is looking at me.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I know that I'm drowning as we speak.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I've read about the scuba diving accidents and I am in the middle of one.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Keegan is screaming for help.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: He is screaming.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: My dad can't breathe.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: My dad can't breathe.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: I can hear him.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: I am keep going under the water, under the ocean.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: I'm looking up through green water.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: I pop back up because I kick hard and I inflate.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: And as soon as I go inflating I'm sinking again.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: And this goes before you know it.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: I am exhausted.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: My body is aching.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: I'm getting charley horses.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: The squeeze on my chest and stomach feels like I'm just in a vice.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I have so much pain.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: I've got lots of water in my lungs.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I'm coughing and hacking, like we've all done, and I end up.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: I know that I'm drowning.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: I know that I'm dying.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Keegan's trying to get behind me, but he can't get behind me to pull me back to shore and I reach over and try to grab Keegan's second air, because he has one too.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: But I find myself climbing on top of him and I'm pushing him under the water and I recognize that I'm going to drown my son.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: So I push away from him.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Keegan's about four feet away from me, five feet away from me and I'm going under the water.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: I no longer have the strength to kick or survive or make myself at the surface to breathe.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: I'm going down through this green water, I'm looking up and in my mind I know that I'm dying.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: I know that I'm drowning and they say that drowning is peaceful.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't say it's peaceful, but I would say at some point you give up.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: And that's what happened.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Right about that time I heard a large splash in the water and I felt a hand grab my shoulder and pull me back up to the surface from under the water.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: I can tell you that in all the experiences that I've had from fighting for my life to getting shot at, to everything else I have never felt more relief than I did when I felt that hand touch me, that hand pulled me back up to the surface.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: It clearly wasn't Keegan and when I got to the surface and looked it was Mark and I trust Mark.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: I knew that I was going to be okay and Mark was not going to let me die that day.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: I looked over.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: There was another diver in the water that had Keegan and was taking care of him.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Mark drug me over to the dock.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: There was a pier that stuck out in the water about 100 feet, something like that 75 feet to tie boats up to.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Mark got me to that and he drug me up on that.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: How I got up on that pier, I don't know.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I was 250 pounds at the time.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Mark is about 200 pounds and I'm weighted down with all my stuff.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: The one thing they did do as soon as they got to me, mark grabbed me and between the two of them they released all my clips and all my gear, my bcd, my tank, everything went to the bottom of the ocean so I wasn't carrying that weight.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: They got me up on that dock and I'm floating out kind of in the middle of the water on this pier and I'm coughing up water.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: They got me on my side, they're patting me on the back.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: They they're taking my gear off, they're cutting some of my gear off and my wetsuit, that type of stuff, and this is a drowning experience.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: So they called 911.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: And there's going to be more on that in a second.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: But they called 911, and the fire department came and I remember laying there looking up when the paramedics arrived and I'm like I even said, oh, thank God, the heroes have arrived.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: There's this rivalry between cops and firefighters and paramedics.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: So they told me I needed to go to the hospital.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: They said that I had water in my lungs and that I could dry drown on land.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: At a later time my ego got in the way, my pride got in the way.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: There's no way that I was going to go to the hospital.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: I was fine, I'm a survivor.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: I got this, I signed the medical release and, against their recommendations, I did not go to the hospital.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: Not my brightest move.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Keegan got back into the water and Keegan got back into the water, did another scuba dive and then we went home that day.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: But let's talk about calling 911.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: You see, justice was on the top balcony and he saw that I was in distress and he saw that we needed help.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: So he ran downstairs and got Mark and told Mark that I was in trouble.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: That's what got Mark to run out to me.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: In the meantime, justice called his mom, who was at home, and said Dad is in the water, he's not breathing.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: And her response was has anybody called 911?
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: And Justice said no.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: And then the phone hung up.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Well, the phone hung up because somebody grabbed Justice's phone to call 911.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: But that's what my wife got.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: She got a phone call that says your husband's in the water, he's not breathing, nobody's called 911.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: And this is coming from a 14-year-old, 13-year-old kid.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: So that's what she has to consider 300 miles, 400 miles away, what she has to consider 300 miles, 400 miles away.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: So she's got a little bit of trauma there as well.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: So, long story short, I survived it and we were able to dive another day.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: If you will.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: I am so thankful that Justus was there with us that day that he didn't stay home in bed like he wanted to.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: I'm thankful that Mark saved my life.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I'm thankful that Keegan remained calm and got us aid and was able to communicate exactly what was going on.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I am very, very thankful.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: You see, after we got me taken care of, then, some divers went down and collected my gear and here's what we learned.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: We learned that where that inflator tube goes into my BCD there was a hole.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Some gaskets and some nuts had come loose and as I was blowing air into my BCD, it was blowing air out of my BCD and allowing water to backfill this large bladder that I had around me.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: So that is what occurred as the 36 pounds of weight was dragging me down, the water was filling my BCD, adding weight to it, and I was literally getting sucked to my death.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Then we got to dive another day.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: So about a year later we're in Mexico, and when we're in Mexico we're going to go on some scuba dives, because that's what you do when you're outside of Cancun.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: So Keegan and I get on a boat and we go for a couple of days of dives.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: We're going to dive.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: We come back to the hotel the next morning we get up and dive again.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: We come back to the hotel.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: On the first day of dives we were out in the water and 10 of us go into the water and we all get back on the boat.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: There's only eight of us and I do a quick head count.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: The dive master is handing out drinks and water all around, make sure everybody's hydrated on a hot day and I'm like, hey, we're missing two people.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: And the dive master is like, uh, oh, yes, the, the two ladies we were down underwater.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: We went left.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: They went right.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they should have stayed with the group.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: They're on their own, they're advanced divers.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Hopefully we find them.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: And I'm like what in the hell are you talking about?
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Hopefully we find them.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Everything inside of me was like you know what?
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: I should be done diving with this operation.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: But we wanted to dive.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: The two ladies surfaced a long ways away.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: We went out and we got them.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: They were fine.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: They didn't know any different to them.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: They were like, yeah, whatever, it was just another day To me.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: I'm like I can't believe that this guy doesn't care about these two lost divers.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Well, the next day comes, and when the next day comes, keegan and I go out and dive.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Now I should let you know that when I dive, I wear a bright orange swim shirt underneath my BCD, but you can see the sleeves and the neck and everything else.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Keegan wears a bright yellow one.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: We do that so we can see each other under the water.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Now, when we got on the boat that day, there was a large group of divers.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: We got into the water and we could immediately tell that the current was going out.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: It was a strong current going out, so because of that, we were going to do a drift dive.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: A drift dive means the divers get into the water and the boat floats right along top of them.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: So at any time, if a diver wants to get out of the water, they can go up, the boat will be right there and they get onto the boat.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: If a diver wants to get out of the water, they can go up, the boat will be right there and they can get onto the boat.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: That is the way a drift dive is supposed to work.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: So this day we get into the water and it's Keegan and I are buddies and there's several other groups down there and we go down and we're diving what looks like a giant hand in the water.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Now, if you could imagine, there's slack water and no current between this hand.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: So imagine your hands spread out on the floor of the ocean and each one of your fingers is a row of coral.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: The large gap 50, 60, 80 feet between your fingertips allows for that's all coral and there's great fishing stuff in there.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: So as you're diving, let's start at your thumb, you dive, you dive around the tip of your thumb and then that whole inside area is nothing but coral.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Then you get out to the tip of your finger.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: That's where you hit the current.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: You fight the current to get into the next web between your index finger and your middle finger and you dive that whole area.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: So that's the kind of formation that we're diving.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: But man, that current is so strong we're down about 60 feet.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: The current is very strong.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: I'm getting winded and I'm done.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: So I tell the scuba instructor.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, I'm going to go to the surface and get on the boat.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: You partner up with Keegan.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: He gives me the okay.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: He sends up his buoy, which is an inflatable buoy.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: It looks like a pool noodle.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: You put some air in it, it floats and it sticks up out of the water.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: And they know that there's divers around.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: That's attached to a string, so he's holding on to a string.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: The other end is the buoy, so the string goes from him all the way to the surface.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: So I go up the string and I'm holding on to the string at the surface and about that time I get to the surface and I break the water expecting to find a boat, but there's no boat.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: I can't see a boat anywhere.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Not only not our boat, but just no boats.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: So we are three-quarters of a mile off of the Yucatan Peninsula, out into the water, and I can feel myself dragging these divers, slowing them down.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: So I think, man, I don't want to be an inconvenience to them, they don't want to pull me, so I'm just going to let go and I'll just wait here for the boat.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Well, it didn't click that.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: As soon as I let go, within seconds that buoy is 100 feet away, and 200 feet away the current is ripping out.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: So I'm floating on the ocean by myself, not a boat in sight, and I am headed out towards the open ocean.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: If you've ever been to that peninsula, where the hotel zone is in Cancun, there's a bunch of hotels.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: I am going out so fast that I'm just counting the hotels as they go by One, two, three.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: I can see that where I'm headed to is no longer clear blue water, it's dark black water.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: The waves are much larger out here.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Soon as I get past that protected point of land, I'm going to be in the open ocean and there is nobody around.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I see people parasailing over me on that whole boat with the cable and the parachute and I'm waving at them in distress, help me, help me.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: And they're waving back, thinking I'm saying, hi, this is a really bad position.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: I remember thinking, man, it was just a year ago or so that I was drowning in the ocean, scuba diving, and now I am floating away to the open ocean in Mexico.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know what kind of Mexican Coast Guard they have.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: I don't know if they're even going to notice.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: I'm gone Yesterday.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: They didn't notice.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: The first two ladies, keegan, will notice, but are they going to even look for me?
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: They didn't look for them.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: So I'm floating.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: I'm floating for a long time.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: I'm floating for 25 minutes, 30 minutes.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: I'm out in the open ocean, I'm in the big swells, it's black water.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: I'm by myself and I'm getting farther and farther away from land.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Land is getting smaller and smaller and about that time I can see our yellow boat coming out towards me and it finally gets out to me and these are big breakers.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Getting on the boat was a pain in the ass.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: They were big waves, big breakers.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: I'm out there alone.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: I remember thinking, man, at least if I die in this water, it's warm.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: So I get back on the boat they don't speak English and we drive back to where the other divers are still in the water.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Well, we drove for 30 minutes on this boat at a good speed.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Before we got back to those other divers I had floated a long way out into the open ocean outside of Cancun, mexico, and we got back to the divers.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Everybody got on the boat.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: I had the dive master ask the boat captain hey, how did you know I was out there?
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: And they saw my orange shirt.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: He said that he saw my orange shirt, remembered that I was wearing one and wanted to go see what it was.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: He couldn't tell it was a human.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: He just saw something orange in the water and wanted to go to it.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I'm so thankful to have been wearing that shirt that day because if not, I don't know that I would have survived.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: It was a scary day.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: So then we have to go back to the hotel where Stacy's waiting, and we can't keep this a secret.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: So we have to tell Stacy.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Stacy no longer wants me to scuba dive.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: I guess is what I'm getting out of her response.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: I don't think she likes it and think that she's scared that.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Well, she says that every time I go out she's scared that I'm not going to come home.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: And I get it.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: She's shown more fear over scuba diving than she ever did with me as a police officer.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: So those are my scuba diving stories near death, times two.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: And I don't dive as much anymore.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: I don't enjoy it as much.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: I get a little bit of water in my mask.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: I start to get panicked.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: But uh, I got, I have got back on the horse.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: I've dove another 20, 30 dives since these, but, um, yeah, I'm definitely slowing down.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about a night of follies, if you.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: So quick story about Alaska, being a cop in Alaska.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: So we get a call.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: The call is this guy who we know his name's Clyde.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Clyde is at home, he's drunk, he's got a rifle and he's holding his family hostage, pointing the rifle at people, beating up on his old lady.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: So we head out to Clyde's house.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Now it's a summertime night, it's, I don't know, probably June-ish.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: It's summertime, it's light all the time and we're going to go out.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Now we know Clyde.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: We know that if Clyde is sober he is tolerable.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: If Clyde has been drinking, then he is a raging prick and he loves to fight the police.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: He thinks he's the toughest guy around.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: So our plan is we're going to go out to the house.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: The officers who are there, the limited officers we have we're going to spread out around the property.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: And I should explain the property.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: This property he lives on a house in a house.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: It's a two-story home.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: The front door faces the main road road and the front door is elevated up six or eight feet.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: So you have to go up some steps to a porch and then the porch.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: That's where the front door is.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: The driveway is a circular driveway and at the apex of that circular driveway, of that horseshoe driveway, is where his front door is situated.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Both ends of the driveway enter the main road and the only approach to the house.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: So we're going to go.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: I, if I'm looking at the house, I'm going to be hidden on the right side of the house behind a Connex trailer.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Other officers are going to be on the left side and my sergeant at the time is going to be right in front of the house on the phone trying to call Clyde out.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: The idea is that when Clyde comes out of the house and he gets halfway down the driveway, I'm going to challenge Clyde.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: I'm going to tell him to get his hands up, put his hands down.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: He's not going to know I'm there, so I'm going to take him by surprise and then he is either going to comply or fight, or fight or flight, and we're going to deal with the situation.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: So all goes as planned.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: We get there, we call him.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: He agrees to come out without the rifle.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: He comes out.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: He's yelling and screaming and challenging and wants to fight everybody.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: I come out from my hidden position and I'm walking through knee-high grass and as I'm walking through this grass, what I didn't see, as I got about 30 feet away from Clyde, I'm yelling at him.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: I've got a shotgun.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: My shotgun is hanging on my chest.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: I've got a bandolier of shotgun shells.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: So I look like Rambo coming through this thing and I'm challenging Clyde, get your hands up.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Clyde is turning face of me.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: He's telling me he wants to fight.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: We're going to fight, I'm going to have to shoot him.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: And about that time is when I didn't see the chicken wire in the grass and it gets all caught up in my feet.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Then I fall to the ground.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: And when I fall to the ground, like Clyde doesn't know what's going on.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: He thinks this is, you know, I don't say funny, but he's like what the fuck is going on here.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: I'm on the ground, my feet are caught up in chicken wire, I'm on my back like a turtle, I'm rolling back and forth, I can't get my feet, I'm kicking my feet, I can't get my feet out of the chicken wire and I got Clyde, 25 feet in front of me, kind of approaching me wondering what the hell is going on.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: I finally get up to my feet and the fight's on.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: So we end up pepper spraying Clyde and getting him into custody and sending him on his way.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Well, we then learn that Clyde's son, who is equally as a nice guy, he is in the house now with a rifle and he is continuing to challenge and threaten the family.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: So now we have to deal with a second threat.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Well, when we deal with that second threat, the idea is that we're going to set up on the house now and we're going to try to call Clyde out and bring him out to us, a surrounding call out.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: So that's what we do.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: My position is between the front door and the main road, so kind of in the draw, a center line, right down the middle of that horseshoe driveway and I'm almost at the road, but I'm still in his yard.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: There's a mound of dirt there about three feet tall, and off the top of that mound of dirt is two birch trees and that is a perfect place for me to lay down on the off side of that dirt, rest my rifle and be focused right on that front of the house in the front door.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: That was my area of responsibility, so I did that.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: I lay there for hours in the dirt, lo and behold, the sun got out, the back door took off.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: We're talking to an empty house and at the end of the day we got up and moved on to the next call.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: So the sun went off into the night.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Family was okay, we arrested dad, got into a fight with him and all is well with the world.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Well, the next call that we go to that I go to is a report of a man with a gun threatening his girlfriend.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: The report in party says that he has left the house and he's walking away on foot.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Well, I get into the area and I find him and he's right on the main highway, walking down the middle of the main highway, right in front of a pizza hut.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: So I'm by myself, I stop, I get out, I have to engage him because we're on top of each other and he's compliant.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: He lays down on the ground, doesn't have a gun, and my sergeant shows up, so go up to arrest him.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Well, when we go up to arrest him, I reach down to pick up his hand.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Now he's laying on the ground, just like you've seen on TV, arms are out like an airplane, feet are crossed and I go up and I scoop his arm up and I'm going to drop down kind of onto his back area.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Well, when I do, my sergeant says why are you spraying him?
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Why are you spraying him?
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: And I'm like I'm not spraying him.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about pepper spray, you know.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: And about that time I felt it.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Well, when I got into a fight with Clyde, I put my pepper spray in upside down in my pouch.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: So when I dropped down my bulletproof vest, pressed on the button on my pepper spray and I was soaking my balls and all of my manhood in pepper spray.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: If you've never had that opportunity, I suggest it.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Pepper spray is cheap.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Go ahead, give it a shot, just soak yourself and see what it feels like.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Well, all of a sudden I'm on fire, I am burning up.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: I said I'm pepper spraying my balls burning up.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: I'm like I even I said I'm pepper spraying my balls.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: The bad guy starts laughing.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: We get him hooked up and we I take him off the jail.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: I am soaking, I'm inflamed, it's red, everything is painful.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: I get back to the office and we're telling this kind of you know tale of the night, if you will.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about my chicken wire, I'm talking about pepper spraying myself.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: And one of the dispatchers says hey, what's all over your uniform?
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: I look down and, sure enough, from my chest all the way down to my feet, I am covered in brown gray chunks of crap.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: So I break a piece off of like off my uniform because it's mostly dried and smell it and sure enough, it's dog shit.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: So that hill that I had been laying on for hours, that was their poop spot for their dog.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: So I had laid there and rolled in their poop for hours.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Now it's stuck all to the front of my uniform.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Unbelievable night and I just couldn't win for losing that evening.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Anyway, at the end of the day everybody was safe and looking back, it's a memory.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: It's a fun memory.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Life happens, cop work happens and shit happens.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: So that's what happened to me, Anyway.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to wrap this up, but I just wanted to.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: I didn't want it to be a heavy episode like the ones in the past couple weeks.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to share something maybe a little bit different and hopefully you guys can relate to.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: I think you can all relate to the idea that trauma is just built on the relationship you have with a set of circumstances.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Stacey's trauma is me going out scuba diving.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: My trauma is I don't want to die in the water.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: So now I'm a little bit scared of the water, even jumping off the back of a boat into a lake man, I really got to think about it and work myself up to it.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: It doesn't make me less of a man or less of a person, it just is what it is.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: So you guys call to action.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Go ahead and subscribe to this podcast.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Please follow, set the bell, look down.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: If you can send me a message or give me a review, please do.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Let's help the algorithms.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Let's get this out.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: I'll see you next time on the Murders to Music podcast.