STUDENTS TESTIFY ABOUT RECRUIT'S DROWNING
By Molly Moore June 5, 1988
PENSACOLA, FLA., JUNE 4 -- A panic-stricken airman recruit clung to an equipment rack in fear and was dragged back into the pool by his instructors, according to sailors at the Navy's Rescue Swimmer School who glimpsed the death of Lee William Mirecki.

The students, in the first day of testimony at criminal hearings involving Mirecki's death, said they did not believe the instructors were trying intentionally to hurt 19-year-old Mirecki but that they had pushed the frightened recruit too far.

"He was panicked; he was scared," said Airman Apprentice Gregory W. Boos, 23, one of 27 students in the class. "He was yelling. It was obvious he didn't want to be in the pool.

"He went over and grabbed hold of the equipment rack. He was pulled away from it. . . . He was screaming," Boos said.

Mirecki shouted, "Leave me alone! I quit! I quit! DOR!," according to Airman Recruit Gregory T. Harkrider, another student. DOR is the abbreviation for Drop on Request, meaning Mirecki wanted to exercise his right to quit the school.


While the former students described a chilling scene, defense attorneys representing five sailors and one officer charged in connection with Mirecki's March 2 death portrayed the Rescue Swimmer School as a rigorous, stressful training program necessary to prepare sailors for real rescue operations.

Five instructors have been charged with involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy to commit battery in connection with Mirecki's death. The officer in charge of the class has been charged with dereliction of duty.

Defense attorneys, during questioning of the students, stressed the unusually strenuous requirements of the four-week class used to train sailors who would assist in sea rescue efforts. "It's not an easy school," said Boos in response to defense attorney questions. "They're {instructors} not supposed to be gentle with us." He added, "Stress is a necessary part of the school."


The drowning of Mirecki in the navy training pool has prompted a wide-ranging investigation of navy training programs and a proposed overhaul of the Rescue Swimmer School, which has been shut down since March 28.

Mirecki's classmates also testified today that instructors pried Mirecki's grip from a pool safety rope and pushed him farther into the pool to continue the drill.

Under the questioning of eight defense attorneys -- two of the accused have civilian attorneys as well as military-appointed counsel -- much of the testimony of the students was vague and contradictory.

While the instructors were wrestling with Mirecki, the other students had been ordered to tread water in the deep end of the pool and sing "The Star Spangled Banner" before they climbed out of the pool and began doing exercises. In some cases, students could not recall where individual instructors were during the incident.


Airman Paul Shiver, a student who was forced to drop the class because his lung collapsed during the drill in which Mirecki died, said the sailors were unable to see the entire episode because "we were told to turn around and face away."

"I could see the splashes," Shiver said. "I could hear Mirecki's hollering. He kept repeating, 'No! No!' " Shiver said that as he glanced up from doing push-ups beside the pool he saw one instructor holding Mirecki in a cross-chest position.

"He was limp. His eyes were rolled back. His lips were blue," Shiver said.

The military Article 32 hearing, similar to a civilian preliminary hearing, will be used to determine whether there is enough evidence to court-martial the six sailors charged in the incident. The makeshift courtroom at the Naval Air Station here was filled with family members of the accused sailors and with Mirecki's survivors.

Those charged with involuntary manslaughter are Petty Officers First Class Richard E. Blevins, 32, and David J. Smith, 42, and Petty Officers Second Class Frankie D. Deaton, 26, John W. Zelenock, 25, and Michael W. Combe, 28. Lt. Thomas A. Torchia, officer in charge of the rescue school, has been charged with dereliction of duty.