Old case new controversy for West

The drowning of a scuba diving student 17 years ago in Lake Coeur d’Alene has now become part of the misconduct controversy surrounding Spokane Mayor Jim West.

West was the instructor during a 1988 deep-water dive in which 19-year-old Gonzaga University student Peter J. Boyce died. Sheriff’s deputies at the time said no one was to blame for the death.

A negligence lawsuit by the victim’s mother against West and Gonzaga was later thrown out of court because the student had signed a waiver releasing responsibility for injury or death.

This week, an attorney for West called attention to the case in an e-mail to members of the press.

In the e-mail, attorney Bill Etter criticized city Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers for her recent efforts to obtain a copy of the coroner’s report on the drowning, and questioned Rodgers’ motivation for seeking the document.

Etter said in his e-mail that the coroner’s report was a private document. But, the report is included in the court record of the negligence suit filed by the victim’s mother, which is a public file.

“This unfortunate accident is totally unrelated to any possible violation of city policy occurring during the mayor’s short tenure,” Etter said in the e-mail on Wednesday.

The e-mail was initially not available to The Spokesman-Review because of a malfunction of the newspaper’s e-mail server. A copy was obtained on Thursday.

Rodgers returned fire Thursday afternoon.

“What are they worried about? Why would they care?” Rodgers said. “I look at this as an attack on me asking questions.”

Rodgers said she was looking into the case after hearing about the drowning from citizens. “They have just guaranteed I will look at this a lot more,” she said.

Etter was not available Thursday to respond to Rodgers or to explain why he raised the issue of the drowning in an e-mail to media outlets.

Rodgers said she believed it was an attempt to deflect attention from West’s activities as mayor, and also an effort to discredit her. She predicted that Etter’s reaction would prompt the national media to look into the drowning.

West has been under fire since the publication on May 5 of an investigative report by The Spokesman-Review detailing allegations of sexual impropriety both during his term as mayor and in the 1970s. The City Council and key business organizations including the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce have called for West to resign, but West has insisted he did nothing inappropriate and will only leave office if he is recalled by voters in an election.

Rodgers was among the first community leaders to call for West’s resignation.

The newspaper reported that West had used the Web to solicit dates from young men, offering them favors, gifts and positions at City Hall. The allegations were backed up by transcripts from online chats with two men, including a computer analyst hired by the newspaper to pose as a Ferris High School student. Two other men made similar claims against West during subsequent interviews.

West has acknowledged having relationships with adult men, but has denied as “flat lies” allegations that he molested two men in the 1970s when they were boys and West was a deputy sheriff and Boy Scout leader.

The city is conducting an investigation through a five-member independent panel. The FBI is conducting a separate preliminary inquiry.

Boyce drowned on Nov. 27, 1988, on the fourth of five planned dives. He was attempting to complete an advanced scuba diving class offered through Gonzaga.

West, the instructor, was serving in the state Legislature at the time. He was owner of Down Under Divers and working as a private contractor for the university.

According to court records, the diving group consisted of West, Boyce and two other students. The group descended about 80 feet along an anchor line, and then swam a short distance to a boat wreck. There, West checked the air supply of the students and found them to be low.

West signaled for the group to return to the anchor line and ascend, the documents show. One of the other two students panicked for lack of air, so West helped him ascend by sharing his air in a buddy-breathing emergency effort. During the surfacing, West lost sight of Boyce, according to the court records. He next found Boyce floating on the surface.

Resuscitation was unsuccessful. The coroner determined that Boyce died of an air embolism from too rapid an ascent.

Etter in his e-mail said, “In order for the inquiry process to be fair to all involved, it must remain independent of Council member Rodgers’ personal agenda and influence.”

Rodgers said, “I simply asked a question.”