A veteran LAPD diver died during an on-duty training exercise in a private backyard pool in Huntington Beach last week, and authorities are now probing whether safety violations involving specialized equipment played a role.
Officer Thomas Daniel Denton, who had served with the Los Angeles Police Department since 2006, suffered a medical emergency around 11 a.m. On Nov. 5 at a home on the 17000 block of Crown Circle, according to an LAPD statement. Huntington Beach firefighters responded and rushed Denton to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health has opened its own investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death, the department confirmed.
Denton was part of the LAPD Metropolitan Division, an elite tactical support and crime-suppression unit. During the exercise, he may have been using a closed-circuit rebreather, a device typically associated with Navy SEAL operations that allows divers to remain underwater undetected for extended periods, sources told the Los Angeles Times.
“Closed-circuit rebreathers use a different approach in supplying life support to the diver,” according to the Divers Alert Network. “The rebreather’s primary tasks are to remove the carbon dioxide and replenish the life-sustaining oxygen.”
David McMurdie, co-founder of California Recovery Divers, explained the lethal risk such equipment can pose when malfunctioning or improperly operated.
“Because of the way it was being operated or because of some failure inside the rebreather, it puts too much oxygen in the mix,” he told the Times. “And because it causes this sort of neurological response, the first signal you have that something’s gone wrong is you go into a seizure and you die because you’re underwater.”
Authorities are specifically examining why the training took place at a private residence rather than department facilities and whether any safety protocols were violated related to the diving equipment used, according to the Times report.
“The Department is in the process of conducting a comprehensive investigation and will make the public aware of its findings at the appropriate time,” an LAPD spokesperson said in a statement to the California Post.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell addressed the loss in a department statement, saying Denton’s “passing has deeply impacted our department.”
“Officer Denton dedicated his life to serving others and embodied the values of courage, commitment, and sacrifice,” the department said. “We honor his memory and extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and fellow officers. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.”
The Orange County coroner has not yet released additional details about the official cause of death. The Post has contacted both the coroner’s office and Cal/OSHA for further information.