[rdmmdr]

Diver's death remains a mystery
San Mateo attorney was Vietnam vet, diving researcher
By Aaron Kinney, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area
Article Last Updated:11/06/2006 02:48:20 AM PST
SAN MATEO — Robert Crawford's diving buddy had
his back turned for no more than 20 seconds, but
in that time, Crawford vanished from the ocean
surface. It was the last time he was seen alive.

The body of the noted San Mateo attorney was
found on the ocean floor four days later, on Oct.
11. But no one is sure yet what caused him to
sink noiselessly under the water four miles off
Point Sur in Monterey County, where he and a
group of divers had gone to explore a formation known as Schmieder Bank.

The lingering uncertainty has complicated the
grieving process for Crawford's family,
particularly his wife, Pat, and their two sons,
Craig and Colin. Though the Monterey County
coroner determined that the cause of death was
drowning, the inquiry into the Oct. 7 incident is
ongoing, as investigators consult with experts to
determine whether a problem with Crawford's
specialized diving equipment contributed to the accident.

The device Crawford used is an alternative to the
scuba tank known as a "rebreather." Rather than
breathing fresh gas from a tank, divers using
rebreathers inhale the same air over and over,
courtesy of a mechanism that "scrubs" each
exhalation of carbon dioxide and injects it with
oxygen. The devices are electronically
controlledand require careful monitoring.

"He was always so conscientious and careful and
checked everything," said Patricia. "What went wrong?"

Crawford, 65, was an experienced and passionate
diver who had explored reefs and wrecks all over
the world. Sadly, the pursuit that helped save
his life, soothing the pain of depression related
to post-traumatic stress disorder, ultimately took it away.

Crawford worked behind enemy lines conducting
counterintelligence as an Air Force captain
during the Vietnam War, according to his family.
He was responsible for interrogating Vietcong
prisoners and was involved in heavy combat.

"He saw people die, both friends and enemies."
said Craig, 30, who is also an attorney (In the
early 1990s, Crawford arranged for a high-ranking
member of the South Vietnamese resistance, who'd
spent years in a North Vietnamese reeducation
camp, to move to the U.S. along with his family).

The emotional scars of the war did not prevent
Crawford from setting up a successful law
practice when he returned to the Bay Area
following the war. In 1988, Crawford won a

$3.9-million judgment for two Monterey County
couples whose wells were contaminated when
Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. illegally dumped
toxic materials in a nearby landfill.

But Crawford's greatest professional success,
which set a new standard for how punitive damages
can be awarded, triggered a personal and
professional unraveling. He never received any
money from the verdict of a case that he'd helped finance with his own money.

"He put so much time into that case and never got
reimbursed a penny," said Pat, who added that her
husband had "an incredible sense of justice,
which is why he picked these cases that no one else would handle."

And though Crawford was later awarded $2 million
in a lawsuit against the attorneys who initially
brought him onto the case, he didn't see any of
that money either. One of the lawyers filed for
bankruptcy and the other fled the country, Craig said.

Forced to file for bankruptcy, Crawford tumbled
into depression. Pat said he was diagnosed with
PTSD in 1996 and filed for disability, retiring from his law practice.

"I think around that time we noticed a real
change in his personality," said Craig. "I think
he might have felt he disappointed us and
disappointed himself. He couldn't have been more wrong."

Crawford's love for diving helped pull him out of
his malaise. Pat said he took comfort in the
beauty and serenity of it. But Crawford's diving
was more than recreational. He also participated in research expeditions.

The October excursion to Schmieder Bank was part
of running project to map the topography of the
underwater outcropping, which is noted for its
spiky topography and colorful coldwater coral.

There were nine divers out that day, according to
Crawford's diving buddy, 26-year-old Denzil
Wessels, a technology worker from Campbell.
Crawford, Wessels and two other divers stepped
off the boat and into the ocean for their dive around midday.

As the divers gathered near the anchor line to
check that their equipment was working properly,
Wessels, who was also wearing a rebreather,
noticed that his inflater had snagged in an
uncomfortable position. Turning away from
Crawford, he asked one of the other two divers to help him.

"Then I turned back to look at him to make sure
he was ready to go, and he was missing," Wessels
said. "That was it. And it was just a few seconds."

The dive team immediately commenced a search for
Crawford, but they were forced to suspend it when
night fell. A Coast Guard search also failed.
Four days later, members of the dive team
returned to conduct their own search. On just
their second sweep, the divers found Crawford's
body 175 feet below the surface on the ocean floor, Wessels said.

Craig said a preliminary autopsy ruled out a
physiological cause for whatever led his father
to sink beneath the water, as there was no
evidence of a heart attack or stroke.
Investigators are still awaiting the results of blood and urine tests.

Deputy Tom Jenkins of the coroner's office said
the investigation is now focusing on Crawford's
rebreather to determine if an electronic
malfunction caused him to inhale a toxic blend of
gas that rendered him unconscious. That analysis
may take a month or two to complete, Jenkins said.

There are several things that can go wrong with a
rebreather, which mixes different amounts of
oxygen into the system depending on the depth of
the diver and the pressure of the water.

A malfunction can lead to a number of conditions
that are dangerous and even deadly if not
treated. Hyperoxia (oxygen toxicity) and
hypercapnia (too much carbon dioxide) can both
result in seizures and a loss of consciousness.
If the chemical that scrubs carbon dioxide out of
the air mixes with water, it causes a "caustic
cocktail" that can burn the lungs.

Jeffrey Bozanic, an expert diver who taught
Crawford how to use a rebreather, said the
condition that best matches the events of that
day is hypoxia, or a lack of oxygen. Unlike other
conditions, hypoxia does not cause any external
symptoms. Its victims simply black out.

Bozanic, the author of a book called "Mastering
Rebreathers," said that hypoxia tends to sneak up
on affected divers, because the body may fail to
register a gradually dwindling oxygen supply.

If Crawford lost consciousness at the surface,
water would have flowed through his mouthpiece
into the rebreather loop, causing him to lose
buoyancy almost immediately, said Bozanic. He
added that, for divers using rebreathers, the
surface is the most dangerous place to be,
because fluctuations in oxygen levels have a
greater impact when air pressure is low.

Crawford's diving partner said he would rather
not speculate about what happened. "All I know is
there's something that caused Bob to slip from
the surface and sink towards the bottom," Wessels said.

But he said that hypoxia is never far from his
mind when he's using a rebreather.

"For myself, hypoxia is what scares me the most,
because there's really no warning for it,"
Wessels said. "You just black out. You'll never know what happened."

Bozanic said Crawford had significant experience
with the rebreather, having logged about 200
hours on it since 2001. "Most scuba divers don't
have 200 hours in their lifetime," he said.

And unlike divers who are drawn to the sport by a
reckless streak, Crawford was meticulous and careful, Bozanic said.

"He continued to challenge himself, but he didn't
do so in a thoughtless or undue manner," Bozanic
said. Wessels recalled that, on the morning of
the day he died, Crawford spent part of their
drive to the ocean talking about rebreather safety.

Bozanic said he will remember Crawford for his intelligence and resiliency.

"I've always been very impressed with his ability
for critical thinking," Bozanic said. "He was
someone who rejoiced in learning and liked developing himself."

Crawford even turned his group therapy sessions
at the San Francisco Veteran's Administration
hospital into an opportunity for learning. In
addition to mentoring other veterans suffering
from PTSD, Crawford participated with Dr. Thomas
Neylan of the VA in a study of the biology of
PTSD in order to develop better treatment programs.

Crawford's ability to articulate what was
happening to him led the researches to remark
that it was like having one of their doctors "on
the inside of the disorder," said Craig.

"It is so hard to lose him," said Pat, her voice
shaking. "It's so hard for the world to lose him,
but it's hard for me to lose him. And his children loved him so much."

Craig turned 30 on Oct. 8. Two days earlier, on
the night before the accident, he and the
immediate family celebrated his birthday over
dinner with his father. Looking back, it takes on added meaning.

"In a weird way it really provided a nice
atmosphere to say good-bye to him," Craig said.
"It was a really wonderful evening that I'll cherish forever."

Staff writer Aaron Kinney can be reached at (650)
348-4302 or by e-mail at akinney@sanmateocountytimes.com.

Sincerely,

Marv Gozum
Philadelphia, PA

[dive2dive2000]

Sounds like an amazing man, my condolences