A Florida dive boat captain is facing charges of ‘seamen’s manslaughter’ more than four years after he reversed into a couple and left the wife stuck in moving propellers.
Dustin McCabe, 49, was only on his third trip aboard the Southern Comfort in March 2020, when he took Sean Flynn and Mollie Ghiz-Flynn to an area known as Breaker’s Reef for a diving trip.
The couple resurfaced after finishing their first dive, and the crew onboard the ship waved them back to the boat, a now settled-lawsuit claims, according to Click Orlando.
But as the couple tried to re-board, McCabe allegedly put the boat in reverse, causing both Sean and Mollie to get sucked under.
Ghiz-Flynn then got pulled into the moving propellers, and her husband was unable to free her.
Two people onboard then jumped into the water to help pull her out, and gave her CPR, Florida Today reported at the time.
Unfortunately, the lawsuit says their efforts to save Ghiz-Flynn were in vain, and Sean ‘watched in horror to the futile efforts to save his wife, who was declared dead by the time the vessel returned to the marina.
‘Cause of death was determined to be “drowning” with “chop wounds of the lower extremities as a significant contributing factor,’ read the lawsuit, which was settled in November 2020.
But McCabe is now facing charges of manslaughter, with federal prosecutors claiming his negligence ’caused the life of [Ghiz-Flynn] to be destroyed,’ the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports.
Prosecutors say he bought the 48-foot boat named the Southern Comfort in March 2020, which he told the US Coast Guard he would use for recreational purposes.
But he instead used the ship to conduct paid scuba charters out of Palm Beach County.
Federal prosecutors further allege that following the tragedy, McCabe was suspended from providing paid services with his boat, but he still used his business, Florida Scuba Charters Inc., to apply for two loans under the COVID-era Payment Protection Program.
He received two separate loans that were both later forgiven, one for more than $18,000 and another for more than $20,000, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
As such, McCabe is now also facing one count of making false statements and three counts of wire fraud.
He was arrested late last month by Coast Guard Investigative Service special agents, and is now facing up to 35 years behind bars.
McCabe is scheduled to make his first court appearance on September 12.
He had previously settled a wrongful death suit filed by Flynn.
The terms of the settlement were never disclosed, according to the Palm Beach Post.
The suit had also named North Palm Beach Marina as a defendant, because at the time of the fatal accident, there was a ban on dive boats as part of a COVID lock down.
It claimed the marina never should have facilitated the dive in the first place.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the marina for comment.
But following the settlement, an attorney representing Flynn said he is ‘pleased we were able to obtain some semblance of justice for Sean and for Mollie’s family.
‘Mollie’s life was taken too soon and it was important to seek full accountability for what was a preventable tragedy,’ Michael Winkleman told the Palm Beach Post.
Ghiz-Flynn’s father, Jack Ghiz, remembered his daughter in the aftermath as ‘the most wonderful, beautiful person in the world.
‘She could do no wrong,’ he told Florida Today. ‘She was glue to the family. Everybody loved her.’
An online obituary also described her as a selfless woman and a devoted wife.
‘If you were in her presence, you knew she was special from her beauty to her no-nonsense personality; you always knew where you stood with her,’ it said.
It went on to say that Ghiz-Flynn was a teenage model, who loved swimming.
‘Her bravery was unbelievable, and from a young age, she had no fear,’ the obituary says. ‘Her family would frequent the waterparks, where she barely made the height restrictions on the scariest rides. But nothing was going to stop her from getting on and riding them; she was fearless.’
Later in life, Ghiz-Flynn worked with students who had disabilities and taught young adults with Asperger’s Syndrome life skills.
‘She was always looking out for others, sometimes before herself.’
She married Flynn on July 1, 2017 in a wedding she planned herself.
‘Mollie treasured Sean and the life they shared,’ the obituary says.
‘Sean was the only one who broke through her hard, outer persona, and he fell in love with the sweet, loving, compassionate and beautiful Mollie her and her family had always known.’