The family of a Navy SEAL trainee who died during a pool exercise last year said it will take legal action against the service.
James Derek Lovelace was 21 when he died after being pulled out of a training pool last May. According to ABC News, the Navy concluded that no criminal charges will be brought against an instructor who some said was too rough with Lovelace that day.
Lovelace's family, however, disagrees with the ruling.
"It just makes us sick to our stomach," Lovelace's sister Lynsi Price told ABC.
"This certain instructor bullied Derek that day and took it too far. [There was] a lot of dunking, [it] just seemed like everything was focused on Derek in the pool that day."
ABC notes that it is against Navy regulations for instructors to dunk and/or hold trainees underwater. They are allowed to splash and yell to create "stress and high intensity."
The medical examiner determined Lovelace's death was a homicide, which does not necessarily bring criminal charges. The family's attorney said a lawsuit is forthcoming.
"The only way we can figure this out [is to] file a lawsuit against the government and the instructor and take depositions and see what actually happened," Ryan Andrews told ABC.
The training exercise involved SEAL recruits treading water in a pool while wearing fatigues, combat boots, and a mask filled with water.
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