Sometimes the only way to know what may have happened in a diving accident is to perform a reconstruction of the incident. By creating a reconstruction it’s usually possible to know whether or not events transpired as the participants claim they did. What may take place on dry land is very different when you try to perform similar actions underwater in this dynamic environment. Physical factors that may have influenced what happened include wave action, currents, water temperature, and underwater visibility, to name a few. Of course, there are numerous human factors that may have also played a role in the incident.

If you have never been diving, it’s difficult to visualize exactly how events can occur underwater. Understanding what happens when people are submerged can be difficult for the attorneys, the judge, and particularly the jurors. By shooting a video and re-creating the events you can usually demonstrate whether time frames are reasonable, whether equipment works the way the manufacturer claims, and whether certain physical actions are even possible.

Steven M. Barsky has participated in the reconstruction of diving accidents, as an on-camera diver, a designer of test criteria, and as an underwater videographer. This type of testing can be exceptionally difficult or sometimes even unfeasible, and is almost always dangerous for all participants. In most cases, it will be impossible to replicate the conditions during the accident exactly. However, when testing is successful it can be extraordinarily valuable.

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Steve has experience shooting this type of video and can provide an edited DVD ready for courtroom use.

Two videos are shown here that Steve shot in the course of working on a dive accident case. The tests were conducted to confirm that the time frame reported by the defendants was within the range that they claimed it took to perform a rescue.

Testing was conducted both topside and underwater. The first video, shot topside, shows the time it took to motor to the accident site and for the rescue diver to assemble his gear and enter the water.

Steve is shown in the photo above, shooting the footage for the accident reconstruction underwater video shown at the bottom of this page. Steve is in the background, behind the video camera. The diver in the foreground is using a fiberglass measuring tape to determine the distances on the dive site in question.