Nöbetçi Eczaneler
The dive instructor who was conducting Dylan Harrison’s training programme when the 12-year-old disappeared and drowned has been arrested and charged in connection with her death.
William Armstrong, a former assistant chief deputy with the Collin County Sheriff’s Office, was arrested on Friday, 6 February and charged with injury to a child. He was later released after being granted bail set at $150,000.
The tragedy occurred on 16 August 2025 during an entry-level diving course at The Scuba Ranch, a flooded inland quarry near Terrell, Texas.
According to witness affidavits cited by the family’s attorney, the course involved eight students, an instructor and a divemaster. After an underwater signalling mix-up, the group was surfaced by Armstrong and his divemaster, Jonathan Roussel, before descending to the training platform at a depth of 5 metres (15ft)
Dylan went missing during the descent and was later found a short distance from the training platform at a depth of approximately 14m (45ft).
Questions have been raised over Armstrong’s conduct in the immediate aftermath of the dive, with one witness describing him as out of the water and ‘bone dry’ while Dylan was still missing.
His fitness to instruct that day was also called into question, after it was found he had worked an overnight shift as a security guard after a full day in his role at the Sheriff’s Office.
Serious concerns have also been raised over the local police department’s failure to retain dive computer data from the dive, which may have clarified the group’s conduct during the descent. One dive computer, believed to belong to the divemaster, has since been lost.
Armstrong, a NAUI Instructor, resigned from his role with the Collin County Sheriff’s Office in October and was permanently suspended from teaching following the incident.
Earlier in February, Dylan Harrison’s parents filed a 40-page civil lawsuit against NAUI, PADI, and the dive operators and professionals involved, alleging that systemic safety failures and deficiencies in training oversight within the diving industry contributed to their daughter’s death.
The post Dylan Harrison instructor charged over her death appeared first on DIVE Magazine.