Scuba Instructor Arrested After 12-Year-Old Dies During Certification Class
A scuba instructor who allegedly worked back-to-back shifts before teaching a class where a child drowned has been arrested and charged with injury to a child.
William Armstrong was booked into the Kaufman County jail on Friday in connection with the August drowning death of 12-year-old Dylan Harrison at The Scuba Ranch in Terrell, Texas. The arrest comes after months of investigation into what the girl’s family describes as catastrophic safety failures.
A Tragic Day at The Scuba Ranch
The incident occurred on August 16, 2025, when Dylan went missing during what should have been a routine scuba certification class. Her body was later recovered at a depth of approximately 45 feet.
Perhaps most disturbing are the allegations about Armstrong’s condition that day. According to court documents, he had worked a full day shift as a Collin County deputy sheriff on August 15, followed immediately by an overnight security shift at an investment firm. He reportedly drove directly to The Scuba Ranch around 6:00 a.m., “having had little or no sleep in the past 24 hours,” before beginning a full day of scuba instruction.
When Dylan disappeared underwater, witnesses reported that Armstrong was “bone dry” on land — suggesting he hadn’t even entered the water to search for the missing child. He and divemaster Jonathan Roussel were allegedly unhelpful during the search effort, which the family’s lawsuit describes as “disorganized and inefficient, wasting valuable time.”
Critical Safety Failures
Multiple safety protocols appear to have been ignored. Dylan was reportedly not properly weighted and the instructor failed to confirm she was neutrally buoyant before entering the water. She had been paired with another 12-year-old student rather than an experienced adult.
What makes the tragedy even more heartbreaking? An impromptu search organized by another scuba instructor found Dylan within just seven minutes at a depth of approximately 43 feet. “Seven minutes is the time people are able to be brought back from a drowning, potentially,” according to reports cited in the investigation.
Adding to the controversy, a dive computer belonging to divemaster Roussel that might have contained critical data about the incident was reportedly lost and never recovered by authorities.
“Kill Count” Comments Surface
Could this tragedy have been prevented? The family’s lawsuit suggests a culture of negligence permeated the facility.
In a particularly damning piece of evidence, a 2017 video of a staff meeting shows Scubatoy owner Joe Johnson making shockingly cavalier comments about safety and previous fatalities. “All I know is we’ve killed, what? 4 people? 5 people? And we’ve never even done a deposition. Our insurance company just settles,” Johnson allegedly stated. He then reportedly added that John Witherspoon, presumably an insurance representative, said they could “kill two people a year and ‘we are fine.'”
Armstrong resigned from his position with the Collin County Sheriff’s Office in October 2025 and was permanently suspended from teaching at The Scuba Ranch.
Family Seeks Justice
The Harrison family has filed a comprehensive 40-page wrongful death lawsuit against multiple defendants including PADI, NAUI, ScubaToys, The Scuba Ranch, and Armstrong himself. The suit alleges Dylan’s death was “preventable and the result of multiple failures after the industry turned a blind eye to safety concerns for several years.”
As criminal proceedings against Armstrong begin, the case has sent shockwaves through the recreational diving industry, raising serious questions about instructor qualifications, safety standards, and the oversight of facilities that teach potentially dangerous activities to children.
