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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Man Dies of Thirst During Survival Test |
| 2007-05-03 |
| By Day 2 in the blazing Utah desert, Dave Buschow was in bad shape. Pale, wracked by cramps, his speech slurred, the 29-year-old New Jersey man was desperate for water and hallucinating so badly he mistook a tree for a person. After going roughly 10 hours without a drink in the 100-degree heat, he finally dropped dead of thirst, face down in the dirt, less than 100 yards from the goal: a cave with a pool of water. But Buschow was no solitary soul, lost and alone in the desert. He and 11 other hikers from various walks of life were being led by expert guides on a wilderness-survival adventure designed to test their physical and mental toughness. And the guides, it turned out, were carrying emergency water on that torrid summer day. Buschow wasn't told that, and he wasn't offered any. The guides did not want him to fail the $3,175 course. They wanted him to dig deep, push himself beyond his known limits, and make it to the cave on his own. Nearly a year later, documents obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act reveal those and other previously undisclosed details of what turned out to be a death march for Buschow. They also raise questions about the judgments and priorities of the guides at the Boulder Outdoor Survival School. What matters more: the customer's welfare or his quest? much more at link |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #11 Well, can he get his money back at least? |
| Posted by: Perfesser 2007-05-03 15:48 |
| #10 PS: Even a signed legal waiver doesn't mitigate culpability for gross negligence. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-05-03 14:40 |
| #9 Legal waivers or not, the subject displayed textbook symptoms of extreme and life-threatening dehydration. It was financial interest that drove the guides' decision to withhold emergency water from Buschow. The school's track record be damned. When someone mistakes a tree for a person and starts talking to it, they are already in a dangerous condition. The guides are responsible for gross negligence resulting in voluntary manslaughter. Jail time should await them. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-05-03 14:38 |
| #8 The Smokie Mtns are nearby. Every year one or more dies from exposure because they did not understand the risks and were not prepared--they usually die of exposure. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-05-03 13:59 |
| #7 If these |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2007-05-03 13:13 |
| #6 Right Darth - and our elem. schools won't let the kids play tag 'cause one of them may fall and skin a knee. Sheese |
| Posted by: GORT 2007-05-03 12:33 |
| #5 This is what our society has come too. We have to pay big money to go out and die of thirst in the wilderness nowdays. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-05-03 11:06 |
| #4 ....led by Jones - Graduate Smith - Graduate Brown - Graduate Buschow - Attended, non-graduate Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid..... and enjoy Extreme Sports. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2007-05-03 10:43 |
| #3 led by expert guides... Yeah. What would we do without "experts"? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-05-03 10:36 |
| #2 If a DI ignored the obvious symptoms of advanced life threatening conditions, he/she'd be up on courts martial charge for homicide. The military doesn't tolerate such mistreatment on its personnel, who it pays and expects to undergo harsh training, to include similar 'volunteer' training as in the Rangers, et al. Why is this tolerated? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-05-03 10:34 |
| #1 He didn't pass the test. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-05-03 09:40 |