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eR ea Ahn Apri mm aie ee nt eh ee ae eR ne = Se a ce ee fe mm nti Bn = i A Or>O © » > ” 2rOrYO © © POP OPO i] ONE Ee tthe, «at yahteate te tts ent te RA warranty Sa cimreee «nen the ways sya + By the time J came up I was, the ( would be somewhere over here, which would be probably 8-10 feei. ii is difficult for me to estimate specifically. and I think by the time F was able at Jecst to rceain. my strength, I would say it is about 30 fect after which time I swam in this direction unti! f was able to wade, and wade back up here to this point here, and went over to the front of-the car. where the front of the car was, and crawled ov@ to bere, dove here. and the tide would is Way there, and then I dove repeatedly from il, | would say, the end. and then I will be the first couple of times. again back over to this side, Bwould come hack seain and szain to this point here, or perhaps the third or fourth time to pain en- trance to some ara here until at. the very end when | couldn't hold my breath any Joncer J was breathing so heavily it was down to just a matter of seconds. ! would hold my breath and 1! could barely pet underneath the water. I was just able to hold on to the metal undercar- riage here, and the water itself came right out to where I was breathing andi could hold on, 1 hk.ew that J just could not get under water any more. And you were fully aware at that time of what was transpiring? Well, I was fully aware that I was trying to get the girl out of that car and I was fully aware that J was doing everything that I possibly could to pet her out of the car and |] was fully aware at that time that my head was throbbing and my neck was aching and J was breaihless, and at that timc, the last time, hopelessly exhausted. You were not cunfused at that time? Well, J knew that there was a girl in that car and I had to eet her out. Pknew that. And yon tool. steps to get her out? I tried the best f thought I possibly could to get her out. But there was no contusion in your mind about the fact that there was a person in the car and that you were doing the best you could to ect that person out? { was doing the very best J could to get her out. THE COURT. May I ask you some questions here about the depih of the water? ; swept away “THE WITNESS. No, it was not possible to stand. The _ highest level of the car to the surface were the wheels and the undercarriage itself when J held onto the under- carriuge and the tide would take me down, it was up to this point. [Indicating.} {By the Court} You were not able to stand up at any point arouna any portion of that car? THE WITNESS. Yes. Mr. Kennedy, how many times if you recall did you make an effort to submerge and get into the car? I would say seven or eight times. At the last point, the seventh or eighth attempts were barely more than five-‘or eightsecond submersions below the surface. J just couldn't hold my breath any loneer. I didn’t have the strength even to come down even close to the window or the dcor. And do you know how much time was used in these efforts? It would be difficult for me to estimate, but 1 would think probably 15-20 minutes. And did you then remove yourself from the water? i did. And how did you do that? Well, in the last dive [ lost contact «ith the vehicle again and | started to come down this way here and | ict mysclf Noat and came over to this shore and ] came onto this shore here, 2nd I sort of crawled and | stagacred up some place in here and was very exhausted and spent on the grass. On the west bank of the river? Yes. As indicated by that chart? Yes, that's correct. And how Jong did you spend resting? Well, ] would estimate probably 1$~—20 minutes tryire to get my —] wos coughing up the water and } was exhausted and { suppose the best estimate would be 15 or 20 min- utes. ; Now, did you sav earlier you spent 15 or 20 minutes trying to recover Miss Ropechne? : POP>OPOPOPO> OF OY O 20 That is correct. : And you ert another 15 or 20 minutes recovering on the west nde of the ceiver? That is comect. Now, following your rest period, Senator, what did you. do after that? . a Well i— : You may temain seated. . ; Albright. After T Was able to regain my breath I went back to the road and I started down the road and it was extremely @ark and I could make out no forms or shapes or figures, and the only way that [ could even ste the path of the road was looking down the silhouettes of the trees on the two sides and f could watch the silhouette of the trees on the two tides and | started going down that road walking, trotting, jogging, stumbling, as fast as I possibly could. . Did you pzss any houses with lights on? Not wg , knowledge; never saw a cottage with a light on it, — And did you then return to the cottage where your ftiends had been gathered? That is correct. . And how fone did that take you to make that walk, do you recall? } would say approximately fifteen minutes. . And when you arrived at the cottage, as you did, is that true? That is true. Did you speak to anyone there? Yes, I dic. And with whom did you speak? Mr. Ray LaRosa. And what did you tc him? I said, get me Joe Gargan. . ° And was Joe Gargan there? He was there. . He was at the party? Yes, THE COURT: Excuse me a moment. Did you go ins‘de the cottage? Tiit: WITNESS: No I didn’t go inside. Q (By Mr. Dinis) What did you do? Did you sit in the auto- > FOPO>POLO>FO>O ce) a>. ~OPQ - > Q mobile at that time? Vell. 1 came up to the cottage, there was a car parked there, a white vehicle, and as | came up to the back of the vehicle, } sew Ray Lakosa at the door and I said. Ray, ‘get me Joe; and he mentioned something like, right away’, and as he was going in to get Joc, I got in the back of the ca. ly; «his white car? Yes. And now, did Joz come to you? Yes, he did. : And cid you have conversation with him? Yes. ! did. Wold vou tell us what the conversation was? Tsail, vou had better gat Paul, too. Did you tel hin what happened? At taal Ume said, boiter get Paul, too. What hapnened after tha? Well, Pau! came out, gai in the car. I said, there has been a territle acadent, we heve zot lo go, and we took off down the road, the Nain Road there, How long had you known Mr. LaRosa prior to this eve- ning? inhi years, ten years, eight or ten years. 4 wre seu femijar with the fact or - strike that + di have any knowiedye that Mr. LaRosa had some expe in skindiving? you ence No, | never did. Now, before you drove down the road, did vou make any further explanations to Mr. Gargan or Mc. Markham? Before drivinz? No. sir, | said, there has been a terrible accident, fet’s sc, and we took off — And they went —- . — driving. And they drove wrziedly dawn? Thatice ephte Towards the Dike Bridve area. Rn i a sete oer ee at