NFL Players in Florida Boating Accident Swam Away from Boat

Many people are having a hard time understanding why these men would choose to abandon their life vests and the overturned boat in order to try to swim to safety. Especially given the fact that the boat was 70 miles offshore and there was no land or other vessels in sight. But that is what happens when people are suffering from advanced hypothermia. The mind begins playing tricks on you and people begin to feel hot or restricted as their core body temperature drops to dangerous levels.

Nick Schuyler is the only survivor of the boating accident that claimed the lives of Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, free-agent NFL defensive lineman Corey Smith, and former University of South Florida player William Bleakley. His version of events to Coast Guard investigators is difficult for most people to comprehend, although it is consistent with the effects of hypothermia.

According to Schuyler, two of the men only lasted a few hours in the water before taking off their life vests and trying to swim to safety. A third lasted nearly 2 full days before deciding that his life vest was too tight and he too tried to swim away. Schuyler was left alone to cling to the boat and was eventually rescued by the Coast Guard nearly 2 full days after the boat capsized.

Schuyler's report said that the boat's anchor was stuck on the bottom and that the men accidentally capsized the boat while trying to free the anchor.