A Third Navy Seal Trainee Just Died in Six Months, Death Ruled a “Drowning Homicide”

Twenty-one-year-old Navy SEAL trainee James Lovelace (above) died on May 6th after he was repeatedly dunked in a pool during a training exercise in his first week of training at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado.

An instructor was removed from duty following Lovelace’s death after he was found to dunked the student on at least two occasions, during a drill that involves treading water while handcuffed.

He also failed to help Lovelace, who was struggling to keep his head above water and whose lips were turning blue, for at least five minutes, according to the autopsy report, seen by DailyMail.com.

The trainee lost consciousness and was taken to a civilian hospital, where he died.

While the Navy first tried to suggest that it was Lovelace’s underlying heart condition, video reportedly shows the instructor following a struggling Lovelace around the pool and taunting him, pulling him up out of the water and dunking him again, while others tried to help him stay above water. Sources also say the instructor held Lovelace underwater until he passed out, then claimed it was all Lovelace’s fault due to his “inability to perform”. This is despite the fact that instructors were repeatedly told not to dunk trainees.

The coroner officially ruled Lovelace’s death a “drowning homicide” and sources claim the trainee was repeatedly held underwater by a SEAL instructor who may be charged in the trainee’s death and who the Navy has refused to publicly identify.

Whatever is going on over there, that makes three recruits who have now died during SEAL training in the last six months alone.