An aggravated and panicking Stockton Rush threw the game controller used to operate the Cyclops I at a crew member after getting the submersible stuck in the wreck of the Andrea Doria.
That was part of former OceanGate Director of Marine Operations, David Lochridge’s testimony this morning at U.S. Coast Guard hearings into the Titan disaster.
Lochridge, a submarine pilot and inspector, was so frustrated with operations and safety issues at OceanGate that he sounded the alarm, and was dismissed from the company for allegedly violating a nondisclosure agreement.
He then sued the company arguing that he was dismissed for being a whistleblower.
This morning, he outlined a frightening incident in which the OceanGate submersible Cyclops I, with paying customers on board, got stuck in the tangled wreck of the Andrea Doria in shallow waters southeast of Nantucket.
Lochridge says despite being repeatedly warned about getting too close to the wreck, Rush, who was navigating the submersible, struck the wreck and got it jammed.
Lochridge offered to get them out, but Rush refused to come forward from his position in the back of the sub and view their difficult surroundings, or give Lochridge the controller.
“Repeatedly, every time I went to take the controller from him, he pushed it further and further behind him inside the submersible itself.”
Panic rising, Rush finally relented when a customer shouted at him to let Lochridge take control.
Lochridge testified that he tried to...
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