By Sharon Bernstein

July 6 (Reuters) – The drowning loss of life of a U.S. sailor throughout Navy SEAL coaching in California has been dominated a murder by the San Diego medical expert’s workplace which famous in a report that, in opposition to Navy guidelines, an teacher dunked the sailor underneath water at the same time as he struggled.

James Derek Lovelace, 21, who was based mostly in San Diego, died on May 6 after participating in a coaching train that concerned swimming and treading water whereas carrying fatigues and fight boots, the medical expert’s workplace famous in its report.

“Although the manner of death could be considered by some as an accident, especially given that the decedent was in a rigorous training program that was meant to simulate an ‘adverse’ environment, it is our opinion that the actions, and inactions, of the instructors and other individuals involved were excessive and directly contributed to the death,” Pathology Fellow Dr. Kimi Verilhac wrote within the report.

The U.S. Navy didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the murder ruling.

The coaching train at a Navy Seal coaching compound in Coronado, close to San Diego, was captured on surveillance video.

Lovelace was identified to the Navy as struggling at occasions from training-induced bronchial asthma and a coronary heart irregularity, Verilhac wrote.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service spokesman Ed Buice stated in an announcement to Navy Times that the coroner’s report doesn’t imply that instructors engaged in legal exercise in the course of the train.

“It is important to understand that ‘homicide’ refers to ‘death at the hands of another’ and a homicide is not inherently a crime,” Buice stated, including that NCIS was persevering with to research Lovelace’s loss of life.

“The NCIS investigation is open and active and NCIS does not discuss the details of ongoing investigations,” Buice stated.

Verilhac wrote within the report that Lovelace had an enlarged coronary heart which might contribute to sudden loss of life amongst athletes. However, she wrote, as a result of the trainee was dunked whereas struggling within the water and allowed to go underneath a number of occasions, the loss of life was attributable to drowning and was a murder.

There have been a number of deaths lately amongst service members present process grueling coaching for the elite corps. Last yr, two Navy Seals died after coaching mishaps in a swimming pool at a Virginia navy base, and Seals died in coaching accidents in Phoenix and Tennessee in 2013. (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; modifying by Toni Reinhold)

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