The parents of a 12-year-old girl who drowned during a certification training dive in North Texas have filed a sweeping wrongful-death lawsuit against several dive shops, instructors and two of the world’s largest diving certification organizations.
Heather and Mitchell Harrison filed the 40-page lawsuit Friday in Dallas County District Court, individually and as representatives of their daughter’s estate, alleging their child’s death was “senseless and completely preventable” and caused by “systemic safety failures that have plagued the diving industry for years.”
According to the petition, the child drowned on Aug. 16, 2025, during an open water certification training dive at The Scuba Ranch in Terrell while participating in an entry-level course developed by the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) and conducted by Scubatoys Enterprises, a Carrollton dive shop.
The lawsuit names as defendants:
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Scubatoys Enterprises, LLC
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Scuba Ranch and Recreation Parks, LLC (doing business as The Scuba Ranch)
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PADI Americas, Inc. and PADI Worldwide Corporation
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NAUI Services Group, Inc. and the National Association of Underwater Instructors, Inc.
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Instructors and Staff: Jonathan Roussel, Gregory Knauer, Joseph Johnson, and William Armstrong
Allegations of inadequate preparation before diving into the lake
The lawsuit states that the girl, who weighed about 77 pounds and was under 4 feet 10 inches tall, began her private certification training at Scubatoys on Aug. 14, 2025, receiving about six hours of instruction, including about three hours in a pool.
The plaintiffs claim NAUI standards require at least 10 hours of confined water training before a student can advance to open water diving, but say the family was never told this requirement and their daughter was improperly cleared to move forward.
The petition also alleges the child was not provided or instructed to use a timing device, depth gauge or dive computer, tools the lawsuit describes as essential to knowing the depth and ascending safely if separated from an instructor.
Poor visibility, a large group and separation underwater
On the morning of Aug. 16, 2025, the child arrived at The Scuba Ranch around 8 a.m. for open water training, according to the suit.
Although her parents say they paid for private instruction, the lawsuit claims she was placed in a group with seven other students of varying ages and experience levels, supervised by an instructor and a divemaster.
The family say they were told their daughter would be friends with dive master Jonathan Roussel, who allegedly told the father: “I won’t take my eyes off your daughter.”
Several witnesses described underwater visibility that day as between two and four feet, the lawsuit states.
During a subsequent descent, the petition says the child was separated from the group, and the separation was not immediately recognized.
At around 10:27, emergency services were called.
The girl was found underwater about 30 minutes after she was last seen alive, at a depth of about 45 feet, under cooler, darker water and about 30 feet away from the nearest training platform.
She was unresponsive, with the regulator out of her mouth, her mask on and at least one flipper detached and bleeding from her nose, the suit says.
The cause of death was later determined to be drowning.
Claims against certification agencies
The lawsuit alleges that both PADI and NAUI have long known that students under 16 are not suitable candidates for open water certification under conditions of student-to-instructor ratios as high as eight to one, but have not required automatic discounts when minors are present.
The plaintiffs allege that both organizations promulgated and maintained “inadequate and unreasonably dangerous training and safety standards” and failed to adequately screen, monitor or discipline unsafe instructors and facilities.
Video allegation involving dive shop owner
The lawsuit also references a video from a 2017 Scubatoys staff meeting in which store owner Joseph Johnson allegedly bragged about how many students Scubatoys had killed without consequence and claimed an insurance broker told him the business could “kill two students every year and still be fine.”
The plaintiffs say the video was provided to NAUI management in 2017, but no corrective action was taken.
The Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office initially investigated the death, but closed its investigation less than 90 minutes after the child was pronounced dead, according to the petition.
At the family’s request, the Texas Rangers reopened the investigation in mid-October 2025, and it remains ongoing, the lawsuit states.
What the family is looking for
The Harrisons are seeking more than $1 million in damages, including mental anguish, loss of business, wrongful death, survivorship damages on behalf of their daughter’s estate, and exemplary (punitive) damages for alleged gross negligence.
WFAA is awaiting a response from Scuba Ranch after leaving a message regarding the suit Monday afternoon.