Summer Trip to Europe Ends With a Possible Case Study
Over the summer I traveled to Spain to participate as a volunteer in an English immersion program
that is ran by the Spanish department of education. We taught English to a new group of students every
week, for what had been planned to be the entire month of July. Unfortunately, the program was cut short
due to an unexpected occurrence to one of the volunteers during a weekend excursion. It was a Saturday
afternoon, our second week in Spain and our first bonding activity as the volunteers of the program. We
set off to our destination Lagunas de Ruidera, a lake that is located in the Province of a city named
Ciudad Real. Once we arrived the leaders gave us a check in time (9:00pm.) and a designated meet up
spot. We were all made very aware of it. With not a worry in the world my friends and I were enjoying our
time swimming in the beautiful lake until we became alarmed by the look on two of our co-workers face.
They were swimming back from the middle of the lake when they began to question us asking if we had
seen their friend whom they were on a race with, whoever had got back to shore first won. But the boys
explained that when they turned around about halfway to shore, they didn't see him and thought he got
ahead of them and won. They realized he did not in fact come back when all of us answered that we
had not see him since he set out on the race with them. They began to search before informing the
leaders, and once they had realized it was a serious matter is when they decided to inform them. "He
must've gotten out and went off on his own somewhere, we'll start worrying once 9:00pm hits" said the
leaders, he was a returning volunteer and was known for always going off to explore by himself and do
his own thing. But, if the last place he was seen was in the water, they should have been much more
worried than this. Suspect #1 was convinced he was dead, he repeatedly said "He's gone, he's dead" as
he cried. Suspect #2 was almost sure that he had gone off and got caught up meeting some new friends.
Why was #1 so sure that he was dead? Perhaps rough housing could have reached a point of death for his
peer? Why did #2 lack empathy? Emotions are key when investigating a case. Much like Lionel Tate's case
where he was not aware of the extent of his rough housing and it resulted in death. Once 9:00pm had hit,
the leaders began to reconsider their original statement of him walking off and he would return at nine. There
was still no sign of the victim, and constant statements that gave us hope he was alive kept circulating the
groups conversations. The fact that this young boy was very intelligent, he was a medical student in
Ukraine and a member of the swim team. As this was happening I was communicating with the lifeguards
and updating them on the situation, as I was the only spanish speaker in the group. The sun began to set,
and tensions began to rise. Authorities were contacted at around 10:00pm. Civil Guards and the fire
department had arrived at the scene at approximately 10:36pm, about 4 hours after he had gone missing.
The entire group was lead into the bus prior to them arriving in order to stay warm while adults handled
business. Authorities entered the bus with a rifle slung across their chest, and a bright flashlight shining on
us asking for a Spanish speaker to translate. Everyone turned their head to me, and I was escorted out
of the bus with my passport in my hand. I was unwillingly becoming involved into the case. Interrogation
questions began to be translated through me to the two boys who accompanied him before he had gone
missing. “Was he showing any unusual emotions? Where did you see him last?” and the questions went
on. No strange emotions were shown, so suicide was out of the picture. If I had translated just the
slightest thing wrong, I was going to be held accountable. That was not what I had agreed to when
going on this trip. After asking questions and getting an estimate of where he was last and what time,
we were free to go back to camp. The next morning we were informed that divers had been sent out at
around noon, as they found no signs of him around the perimeter of the lake. His body was found at the
bottom of the lake at around 3:00pm. He was an Irish citizen, and the Irish Embassy declined to
discuss the case. After we received the information, it was as if nothing had ever happened, it was
forgotten about and we were all ordered to book our flights back home. If this were to happen in
American territory would it have been investigated further? Could his parents have filed a lawsuit due
to the lifeguards failing to complete their job? Could I have sued for emotional distress? The list of
questions goes on.
week, for what had been planned to be the entire month of July. Unfortunately, the program was cut short
due to an unexpected occurrence to one of the volunteers during a weekend excursion. It was a Saturday
afternoon, our second week in Spain and our first bonding activity as the volunteers of the program. We
set off to our destination Lagunas de Ruidera, a lake that is located in the Province of a city named
Ciudad Real. Once we arrived the leaders gave us a check in time (9:00pm.) and a designated meet up
spot. We were all made very aware of it. With not a worry in the world my friends and I were enjoying our
time swimming in the beautiful lake until we became alarmed by the look on two of our co-workers face.
They were swimming back from the middle of the lake when they began to question us asking if we had
seen their friend whom they were on a race with, whoever had got back to shore first won. But the boys
explained that when they turned around about halfway to shore, they didn't see him and thought he got
ahead of them and won. They realized he did not in fact come back when all of us answered that we
had not see him since he set out on the race with them. They began to search before informing the
leaders, and once they had realized it was a serious matter is when they decided to inform them. "He
must've gotten out and went off on his own somewhere, we'll start worrying once 9:00pm hits" said the
leaders, he was a returning volunteer and was known for always going off to explore by himself and do
his own thing. But, if the last place he was seen was in the water, they should have been much more
worried than this. Suspect #1 was convinced he was dead, he repeatedly said "He's gone, he's dead" as
he cried. Suspect #2 was almost sure that he had gone off and got caught up meeting some new friends.
Why was #1 so sure that he was dead? Perhaps rough housing could have reached a point of death for his
peer? Why did #2 lack empathy? Emotions are key when investigating a case. Much like Lionel Tate's case
where he was not aware of the extent of his rough housing and it resulted in death. Once 9:00pm had hit,
the leaders began to reconsider their original statement of him walking off and he would return at nine. There
was still no sign of the victim, and constant statements that gave us hope he was alive kept circulating the
groups conversations. The fact that this young boy was very intelligent, he was a medical student in
Ukraine and a member of the swim team. As this was happening I was communicating with the lifeguards
and updating them on the situation, as I was the only spanish speaker in the group. The sun began to set,
and tensions began to rise. Authorities were contacted at around 10:00pm. Civil Guards and the fire
department had arrived at the scene at approximately 10:36pm, about 4 hours after he had gone missing.
The entire group was lead into the bus prior to them arriving in order to stay warm while adults handled
business. Authorities entered the bus with a rifle slung across their chest, and a bright flashlight shining on
us asking for a Spanish speaker to translate. Everyone turned their head to me, and I was escorted out
of the bus with my passport in my hand. I was unwillingly becoming involved into the case. Interrogation
questions began to be translated through me to the two boys who accompanied him before he had gone
missing. “Was he showing any unusual emotions? Where did you see him last?” and the questions went
on. No strange emotions were shown, so suicide was out of the picture. If I had translated just the
slightest thing wrong, I was going to be held accountable. That was not what I had agreed to when
going on this trip. After asking questions and getting an estimate of where he was last and what time,
we were free to go back to camp. The next morning we were informed that divers had been sent out at
around noon, as they found no signs of him around the perimeter of the lake. His body was found at the
bottom of the lake at around 3:00pm. He was an Irish citizen, and the Irish Embassy declined to
discuss the case. After we received the information, it was as if nothing had ever happened, it was
forgotten about and we were all ordered to book our flights back home. If this were to happen in
American territory would it have been investigated further? Could his parents have filed a lawsuit due
to the lifeguards failing to complete their job? Could I have sued for emotional distress? The list of
questions goes on.
 |
July 15th. 2018 Civil Guards and the retrieved body |
This is really fascinating. It is interesting to see how different people react to the same event and that brings up the concept of cognitive science and cognitive therapy. One of the tenets of cognitive therapy is that one only feels an emotion once they have interpreted an event. For example, a person's car may get hit by a train and they would be terrified. In contrast, a different person's car may get hit by a train and they would be happy because they could file a lawsuit. This concept can be applied to the two campers who had disparate thoughts on the whereabouts of the victim.
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