Academy probing cruise ship plunge

[Jason]

Academy probing cruise ship plunge

By Tom Roeder, The Colorado Springs Gazette

A cadet portrayed in some news accounts as a hero for diving off a cruise ship to rescue a female companion who had gone overboard is under investigation by the Air Force Academy.

Junior Cadet Ernesto Guzman, 22, who had been aboard the Grand Princess on a spring break cruise on March 25, plunged from several stories into the Gulf of Mexico.

Initial accounts said Guzman dived overboard to rescue 20-yearold Clarice Partee, a University of Colorado student, and survived for hours in the water because of his Air Force water-survival training.

The two were pulled from the water after a search involving the Coast Guard, the cruise ship and several nearby vessels.

Several sources at the academy said officials there have fielded complaints about Guzman's behavior on the ship and have heard a flurry of rumors about how the couple went over the side.

Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker said the investigation will be conducted by the Air Force officer who oversees Guzman's squadron. It's the same type of investigation that would automatically ensue if a cadet was involved in an off-base car crash.

"This will examine facts and circumstances," Whitaker said. "It is not a criminal investigation."

Still, if the probe reveals that Guzman misbehaved, he could be disciplined, Whitaker said.

"We don't know how long it will take and what the outcome will be," he said.

What happened on the ship remains murky and wasn't clarified by a statement released by Guzman earlier this week.

"First, I'd like to thank Princess Cruise Lines and the U.S. Coast Guard for all they did to ensure my safety following my fall from a Princess Cruise ship March 25," Guzman said. "The combination of their quick response and my water survival training at the United States Air Force Academy combined to save my life during those five hours in the Gulf of Mexico.

"I ask everyone to please respect my privacy and that of my family as we move forward from this traumatic experience."

The academy said Guzman refuses to talk to reporters.

Heather Coen of Loveland was aboard the Grand Princess when Guzman went overboard. She said she can't understand how the couple climbed over the waist-high deck railing in their ninth-level stateroom to wind up in the water.

"You'd have to climb or take a really good running jump," she said.

She said fellow passengers were angry with Guzman and Partee for throwing the weeklong cruise off its schedule, forcing the skipper to cut short a port call in Mexico.

She said one rumor among Grand Princess passengers was that Guzman and Partee were using the rail to re-enact a scene from the movie "Titanic," in which actress Kate Winslett balances on the ship's railing while being kept from falling by actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Air Force investigation into the incident comes after the Coast Guard last week declined to look into it, saying it was clearly an accident.

But the academy can examine more than how the pair went overboard.

"They will look into the circumstances leading up to the fall and his actions after the incident," Whitaker said.

[IBCRUZIN39]

From everything I have read and seen on the news, I get the distinct impression that these two were doing the "unmentionable" against the rail and fell overboard. It was also my understanding that the man (and possibly the woman) was naked when pulled from the water.

What happened to their clothes? Sharks ate their underwear and socks?

Scandalous!!!

P.S. Luv those smileys.

[rogue]

I agree with you I B C. The story was pretty clear from the start. Now I see that the young gentleman may be reprimanded by the /Air Force. I wonder if it was at all worth it.