The Nation - News from June 30, 1988

Two Navy swimming instructors were reduced in rank and two others received pay cuts as punishment for their roles in the drowning death of a recruit during a rescue training class in March. The penalties were imposed by Rear Adm. David Morris at a three-hour closed-door hearing. In addition, Morris recommended that a lieutenant who two days ago rejected an offer of non-judicial punishment be court-martialed. The four instructors punished were among five charged in May with involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy to commit battery in the March 2 death of Lee Mirecki, 19, of Appleton, Wis. Lt. Thomas Torchia, 32, the officer in charge of the Rescue Swimmer School in Pensacola, Fla., where Mirecki suffered a heart attack and drowned, was charged with dereliction of duty.