ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE INVESTIGATIVE REPORT ‘CASE NUMBER 2010-016715 UN. Detective Samara Melich EID 2685 Special Operations and Investigations Division Major Case Section Homicide Squad 2500 West Colonial Drive Orlando, Florida 32804 407-254-7000 Extension 70523 OFFENSE INFORMATION: ‘Type of Incident: ‘Accidental Death Date of Occurrence: February 24, 2010 Time of Occurrence: Approximately 1337 hours Location of Occurrence: 7007 Sea Harbor Drive Orlando, Florida 32821 Zone $0 WITNESS INFORMATION: Name: Suzanne Connell Date of Birth: — May 2, 1962 Race/Sex: White/Female Address: 18 Comfield Drive Somersworth, New Hampshire 03878 Home Phone: (603) 692-4784 Suzanne Connell stated she was a guest at the Dine with Shamu encounter. Her family had videotaped the encounter and provided this footage (no date or time stamp) to the media.’ The video camera was turned off prior to Dawn Brancheau entering the water. On May 3, 2010, Suzanne Connell * This video footage was copied when it was aired by Channel 35 news, and it was retained as. evidence during my investigation. Please refer to my investigative report dated April 28, 2010, {or further details.ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE INVESTIGATIVE REPORT ‘CASE NUMBER 2010-016715 EID 2685, contacted me via telephone to provide information, She had provided a typed statement previously to Lara Padgett with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Lara Padgett forwarded this statement to me after Suzanne Connell called me. Name: Todd Connell Date of Birth: July 12, 1962 Race/Sex: White/Male Address: 18 Comfield Drive Somersworth, New Hampshire 03878 Home Phone: (603) 692-4784 Todd Connell was a guest at the Dine with Shamu encounter. His family had videotaped the encounter and provided this footage to the media. The video camera was turned off prior to Dawn Brancheau entering the water. On May 3, 2010, Todd Connell’s wife, Suzanne Connell, contacted me via telephone to provide information. She and Todd Connell had provided a typed statement previously to Lara Padgett with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Lara Padgett forwarded this statement to me after Suzanne Connell called me. st PENG RU ne May 3, 2010 At approximately 1100 hours, I received a call from Suzanne Connell. This phone call was not recorded. The following is a synopsis of the conversation: Suzanne Connell and her family were guests at the Dine with Shamu show on February 24, 2010. They videotaped the encounter between Dawn Brancheau and Tilikum and also the dining area. Todd Connell was controlling the video camera when the show ended and guests were being asked to leave the dining area. Todd Connell videotaped an interaction with Dawn Brancheau lying on the platform on the far side of the pool and Tilikum is nose to nose with her. Todd Connell then tumed off the video camera in order for the family to visit the underwater viewing area. Suzanne Connell said as Todd Connell was tumed around putting away the Page 2 of 4ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE INVESTIGATIVE REPORT CASE NUMBER 2010-016715 EID 2685, camera, she observed Tilikum pull Dawn Brancheau into the water. She yelled to Jan Topoleski because Jan Topoleski was not paying attention. Suzanne Connell believed it was five minutes or more before Jan Topoleski pushed the alarm button. Suzanne Connell also was concemed because Sea World personnel did not seem to be sympathetic to her family’s traumatic experience. She said her ten year old son is now in therapy because he was traumatized by the experience. She questioned why a statement was not taken from her or Todd Connell. explained to Suzanne Connell she did not come forward to law enforcement, and this is the reason a formal statement was not taken at the time of the incident. ‘Suzanne Connell said she and Todd Connell provided written statements to Lara Padgett with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on April 1, 2010, and she would like these statements to be a part of the official Orange County Sheriff's Office record as well. After speaking with Suzanne Connell, I called Lara Padgett. She faxed me the statements by Suzanne Connell and Todd Connell. The complete statements are attached. Suzanne Connell’s account of when Jan Topoleski provided Dawn Brancheau assistance is not consistent with the following evidence: © At 13:38:10 hours, Sea World’s underwater video surveillance showed a splash in “G” pool, which is believed to be when Dawn Brancheau was pulled into “G” pool. © At 13:38:38 hours, because an alarm was activated, Sea World’s security control tower camera was manually repositioned to record activity at the “G” pool. At 13:39:00 hours, Sea World trainers are seen at the “G” pool area preparing to deploy a large net in their efforts to rescue Dawn Brancheau. Employees are also scen running to the “G” pool area. + Swom witness testimony obtained during the investigation revealed Page 3 of 4ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE INVESTIGATIVE REPORT (CASE NUMBER 2010-016715 EID 2685, tescue efforts were immediate. ATTACHMENTS: * Typed statement by Suzanne Connell = Typed statement by Todd Connell DISPOSITION: ‘This case is closed as an accidental death. (eke Orange County Sheriff's Office Records Section, ¢ a =o o> ful, /o tective Samara Melich, EID 2685 (date) Homicide Squad Sworn to and subscribed before me, the undersigned Authority, this 2L_ day of ify 52010. mit. — Salvo Corporal Edward Kelly (ate) Supervisor, Homicide Squad In compliance with Orange County Sheriff's Office Writen Directives, and Florida Statute 119, the completed investigative report becomes public record unless exempt from disclosure by law. Requests for review and/or copies of completed investigations are granted in accordance with applicable law. Page 4 of 4vane BIZ6267aS S-2018 13:18 FromU.S,00L-05% giseee7a1s forse? 254 7253 TAMPA AREA OFFICE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION: 7 BRECKENRIDGE PARKWAY, SUITE A TAMPA, FLORIDA 33630 (6131626-1177 FAX (8131626-7015 FACSIMILE TRANSMITTAL TO Drom e A Shit Ha Hi ATTENTION —_Siimartz Mee | suai i AFRO ee pore Pade eatin DATE & TIME il f FAX NUMBER tee | wo. OF PAGES i AMAY-O5-2010 13:18 Fromtll.$.00L-O5He auzeee7o1s Toid07 254 7253 April 1, 2010 Lara A. Padgett Safety & Health Compliance Olficer U.S, Deparment of Labor-OSHA Tampa Area Office 5807 Breckenridge Parkway. Suite A Tampa, Florida 33610 Re: Seaworld Witness Suutement On February 24, 2010 Bobby (my son), Todd (my husband), and myself attended The Dining With Shamu luncheon at the 12:30 seating. had booked this dinner a few months ago as a surprise for my son's 10 birthday. ‘We sat at Table #13 which was an awesome scat right up front. Our waiters name was Mark. ‘The butfet lasted about % hour (12:30-1:00). During this time while we ate ‘we notived the other whales all together in their holding area and they were making a lot of noise and the trainers were around them. T remember asking to my husband -why are they making so much noise? And he said they must be talking to each other, When the 12:30 Believe Show started, they put it up on the big screen so that we could watch it while we ate, meanwhile Tilikum was just swimming around in this holding area behind Shamu Stadium, Alera litle while I noticed the show was not being broadcasted anymore so 1 looked at my ‘watch and said wow that was a quick show, I wonder why they didn't do the Shamu-Shamu chant that they always do. At about 1:00 our informative part of the lunch show started, The male trainer (I believe his name is Jay) was narrating and Dawn with an on-looking trainer was doing all the tricks and interacting with Tilikum. Everything seemed fine during the show, Tilikum was very cooperative und they seemed to have a great relationship. For a good part of the show. Dawn and the whale were literally right in front of us about 4-5 feet away with nothing but a rope between us. The session ended and they made the announcement 10 go, so people began to file out ‘We were talking to the waiter about the “yellow box” that the male trainer had in front of him as he sat on the rocks across the water from us. ‘A second announcement was made again that the show wus over to leave, so we started to pack up to go. then decided to stick around and film the inside of the place. and the signs on the wall. During this time there were about a handful of people still there besides the workers who were cleaning up, Dawn was out on like an attached walkway to the dock and was kneeting down, then laying down with Tilikum, sheMAY-G3-2O10 13:18 Froml.5.COL-O5K4 ai3se67ais Tordor 284 TESS. Seaworld Witness Statement Page 2 ‘was playing with him, rubbing his head, nose, ect. My husband began filming this because it looked s0 cute. it looked like they were laying in the water together when in reality she was only in about 4 inches of water. My husband zoomed in then to get a closet look, axid then I said c'mon we better get going. He turned to put the camer away and then all hell broke loose. remember thinking this isn't right, whats he doing, but according to my husband I had said it out loud. At that point they looked a little tangled up and then he reached over and grabbed her by the head (ponytail) and pulled her over him into the water in a hard thrust. | screamed hey, he just took her down, he took her down. I was trying to get the male trainers attention cause he had tumed away for a moment and this all happened in. a matter of seconds. He then jumped up with the yellow box and it obviously did ‘not do what it was suppose to. 50 he then ran and sounded the alarm. Tremember walking around saying Oh My God, where is she? My son began to cry a8 did |. it seem liked forever — she was down about 3 or 4 minutes then she finally came up a litter farther down in the water from where he had pulled her in. She seemed to only be up for a few seconds, but the look of horror and fear on her face said it all, All of a sudden she was yanked back down again in a violent motion. 1 was trying to cover my sons eyes for he was hysterical and screaming. At this time, more trainers had shown up and were all cunning around trying to get a net in the water. I asked my husband why no one was going in to help her, what is going on? My husband considered jumping in to help because no ‘one else was and we felt so helpless standing here watching this girl die. The trainers were now running around the edge of the water shouting “where is she” “T can't see her, [can't sve het”. ‘About another 10 minutes or so had passed and we did not see her come up again. ‘Soon after that we were ushered out of the pool area by some men saying get these people out of here. We stood outside and looked thru the entes then went to the ‘ther side and did the sume thing, She was still in the water in the whale's mouth and they were trying to coral him into the area with the hydraulic lifts. The fire trucks and ambulance were now arriving (it must have been around 2:00) and then Seaworld closed the whole area and made us leave. ‘A park employee , seeing how upset we were approached us and asked if we would like to talk to someone about what just happened, We then went with him to Guest Services and were brought into a small room. A moment or two later, two men came in and one stated his was the Operations Manager and wanted to know what we wanted, what could he do for us? We were floored by this attitude and | said “what do we want” do you know what we just witnessed and went through”. He didn’t seem to care. He told me they had there own surveillance tapes and didn't want to hear what we had to say. We asked about Dawn's well-being (even though deep down we know) ‘and why no-one Went in the water to help her, {t's protocol ~ that's all he kept saying.WeY-O3-2810 13:18 From:U,5.00L-OSHrt eizeasre1s Seaworld Witness Statement Page 3 My son was balling and at that point [also lost it, T said we came to you for help. we were there, we filmed right up until a matter of seconds before the attack happened. You would think that they would want this information. We all ended up leaving there feeling worse than when we went there. I believe his name was Tony (an African-American) man on crutches. ‘We then proceeded to leave the park. Upon returning to our hotel, we saw it on the news, and they were osking for help from anybody that knew anything. We called Fox News and they then did a live telephone-to-TV interview with Todd, and sent a film crew over to meet us. During this time, Seaworld held a press conference and announced that she had slipped and tell into the pool. Todd then went back on the tive phone/TV interview because he was asked about the differences in the stories. He repeated the same statement on how the whale pulled her in and that there was ne way that she slipped and fell, A little while later, Seaworld retracted their cartier statement and admitted that she ‘was pulled in by the whale. | personally, as well us my family have been distraught by this whole situation of what we witnessed and the way Seaworld handled it. It's obvious they are very negligent and have no regard for the well being of their ‘guests, never mind employees. They are suppose to be truthful and protect their visitors, and employees. Had I known that, that whale had killed twice before, there is no Way that I would have put my family in a situation where we were only a few feet away! can't understand why they would not help us or even want to hear or sce what we had saw and filmed. Why was no statement ever taken from us, when in reality { am the one who first saw it and alerted the trainer. Why didn’t Seaworld or te Sheriff contact us? [ will never understand this!" Something is really, really wrong with this whole situation, Auppaae C Cornet ‘Suzanne C. Connell Ene.eiseesrens Toragy 25a 7253 April 2, 2010 Lisa A, Padgent ‘Safety & Health Compliance Officer U.S. Department of Labor-OSHA ‘Tampa Area Office $807 Breckenridge Parkway, Suite A ‘Tampa, Florida 33610 RE: Seaworld Witness Statement (On February 24,2010 1 weat to Seaworld for the day with my son Bobby and wife ‘Suzanne. She surprised us with a “Dining with Shamu” lunch. We thought we were going to see the Believe show in the big stadium but instead we went thru a side entrance, had our Photo taken and then walked into « small dining area with a very large pool that wes. connected to a series of other pools sectioned off by gates. We sat a table in the middle of the dining room close w the buffet room. Our table was very close to the water about 5 feet or so which was roped off by a single rope about two inch diameter with a net. The pool had a dark shimmer to it because of the overcast skies that day so you really couldn’ see how deep it ‘was. One section of the pool had another small pool section attached to it. Tilikum was in that pool just floating near the entrance rubbing his head on the wall. 1 observed everything, around us until the waiter Mark came over and introduced himself and told us to go ahead and cat and he would get our drinks. While we were eating Tilikum would swim in the big, ‘pool and go back to the other and just kind of hang out. While we were eating you could here the Believe show going on in the big Shamu Stadium. Towards the end of dinner the trainers ‘were prepping, for the show. I was Watching the other trainers in the swrounding pools with the other wales. There seem to be a lot of activity while the Believe show was in progress. Some of the wales in the other tanks seem to be talking to each other, inaking noises etc. ‘There was a monitor showing the Believe show in our area that we could watch while we ate. Aman by the name of Jay was behind a platform surrounded by rocks directly ucross the pool from us. He introduced Tilikum and gave us some history information about the orcas, Dawn and her assistant were walking around the pool and Tilikurm was following them. Atone point during our show, the Believe show seemed to stop with out doing the famous Shamu chant they always do. That seem kind of odd because we were sed to hhoaring it. We really didn't think to much of it and continued to watch Dawn. She got right in front of us and gave us @ great performance. I wes filming the interaction and the handed the camera to my son Bobby. He filmed a lot of her in front of us. The show soon ended and we sat for a while and relaxed, Dawn continued to interact with Tilikum after the show was over. Bobby filmed her feeding him across the pool near the podium with Jay looking on. Everyone ‘was pretty much done and people started to leave. We hung around « spoke with Mark. He {old Us about the yellow box and translucent cubes that Dawn was feeding Tilikum. It was a {ish oi! gel to keep the wale hydrated. (a natural substance in live fish that they need to survive). and then she would splash water in his mouth. We filmed some of that interaction fas well, An announcement came over the intercom to exit so we started to gather everything fand make our way. ceetgi engin ovate Up aL aM SME AS Hoty ER UL LUISE 2 UNE UHC responsible for any hansin to her. Who knows? Someone the whale doesn't know could ex the whale and make him more dangerous. ‘She had been down for the second time for a long time. My wife and Bobby were crying hysterically. [didn’t have time to think of the effect this would have on them. 1 thought For some hopeful reason Duwn was going to be pulled from the water and taken to the hospital and revived. 1 heard of people drowning and surviving after being under for long, periods of time, Even as long as seven minutes. We were asked to leave. “everybody leavePeY-O5-2018 13:19 FromtU,S,00L-0548 s1362s7a1S OW"!!! so we did only to wunder around the gate looking in for signs of hope. We walked to the other entrance on the other side of the dining area and the gate was open. 1 walked through it and saw the trainers still looking for her. ‘They had the big net in the water and were pulling it cut. I had to sort of look with one eye because | thought she might come up in it and. {didn't want to sce her lifeless. That would have been devastating. The net was empty and she was still down. | looked for Sue and she was holding Bobby around the head on the walk way. We then got together and started to clear the area looking tor answers, ‘Completely in shock tiom this, we waited a little longer for notice of her rescue. Park personal was becoming very concenttated in our rca and they were asking everyone to leave. My wife and Bobby couldn't stop crying. Eventually an ambulance made its way to the seen and we started back across the long wooden walk way to the main part of the park. Once we crossed the wooden walk way. a park employee asked us how we were and we told his that we had just witnessed the attack on Dawn and were very concerned for well being. Deep down I new it wasn't good but kept my thoughts to myself. | didn’t want to upset any of them We spoke about the incident and he asked us if we need to see or speak to some one. He ‘mentioned to us that they had a Guest Services and we could find some-one there to help us. ‘So We decided that maybe it would be a good idea to speak (o someone. We arrived at Guest Services with two other women from the show. We were brought into a waiting room and sat down at a table. A man with crutches came in the room with another man and hey sat down at our table, Tony. the man on erutches, asked us what ve wanted. We told therm that we had just witnessed the attack. We were very upset. We wanted to know what happened to Dawn. We didn't know what to do or if they wanted any information fiom us. He told us that we knew more than hhim and there was nothing they could do. Then there was silence for a minute, He never asked us any ‘more questions. He just looked at us. Sue got angry that they never showed any compsssion oF empathy Lowards us. They never asked us if we were okay or needed anything. They were very cold to us being there and we felt like they didn't care, We were very upset and didn't know what to do. Sue stood up and watked out even more upset with them. “whats going on here" I wondered. [looked at them and told them that she was upset and hopefully she would be alright and walked out behind her. The lack of professionalism and customer service was inexcusable! We went to them for help and to see if they needed to know what we just witnessed or look at our video, and he told us that they have their own cameras. We went outside the park entrance. It was raining. We called our ride to pick us up. We coulda't believe what was going on. Something wasn’ right. ‘hey weren't right. We then went back to our hotel and the media frenzy started with the all news people wanting to hear the facts of what happened and to watch our video and review the last few minutes of her life before Tilikum pulled her into the water. Sincerely, Hp EM.