Tragedy Strikes: The Death of Todd Meadows
New details have emerged regarding the tragic death of Todd Meadows, a star from the reality TV show Deadliest Catch, who passed away at the age of 25. Meadows died after falling overboard into the Bering Sea near Alaska on February 25. According to local media and TMZ, his death certificate lists the cause of death as “drowning with probable hypothermia” as well as “submersion of body in cold water.”
Water temperatures in the northern regions of the Bering Sea can drop as low as 1 degree Celsius. The certificate also revealed that Meadows was pronounced dead at 5:15 pm. Crew members aboard the fishing vessel Aleutian Lady attempted to rescue the 25-year-old, with deckhand Trey John Green III stating that the crew did “everything they could” to save him.
The incident was captured on camera during the filming of the show, but Meadows’ family has requested that the footage not be aired. An investigation into Meadows’ death by the Coast Guard is still ongoing.
The Rescue Attempt
Previous reports indicated that Meadows was in the water for three to four minutes before being pulled back on board. However, Green claimed that when they found him, he was “already blue” with foam coming out of his mouth and nose. “We got him on the boat as fast as we possibly could; it just wasn’t enough,” he told Page Six last month.
Green described the sea conditions on the day of the accident as “flat and calm,” with the incident occurring in the late afternoon while the sun was still visible. He mentioned that the water temperature was “one or two degrees above freezing,” while the outside temperature was “below freezing.”
When Meadows fell overboard, Green ran to find him. “I see Todd. He’s floating, he’s swimming. He’s got huge baby blue eyes. And I can still, probably from like 100 yards away, I could still see his eyes looking around,” he said.
Every boat has a designated rescue swimmer for such scenarios. Their swimmer, Steve Porter, was suiting up to get into the water. “Todd’s still alive, he’s still swimming, he’s still trying to hang in there. We get next to him… Steve was already geared up and was already in the diving suit… when Steve jumped in the water, the harness that was attached to the crane actually broke,” he said.
The crew then scrambled to get a secondary rescue device, called a life sling, out to the crane to retrieve Meadows. He was able to get himself into the sling, and Porter helped him get halfway back to the ship before Meadows fell into the water again.
When they tried to rescue him the second time, his body was “lifeless,” according to Green. “He didn’t have any more – as I said, the first time, he was fighting, trying to get onto the sling. And then the second time, he was just – he was lifeless,” Green added.
The crew performed CPR and used a portable defibrillator for 45 minutes before the captain told the crew it wasn’t going to work.
Legal Actions and Family Response
Now, Meadows’ family is considering a wrongful death lawsuit. Court documents obtained by US Weekly indicate that his estate and family have “wrongful death and survival action claims as a result of those parties at fault” for his death. They have reportedly asked the court permission for Meadows’ mother, Angela, to “engage wrongful death/survival claims attorneys to pursue those claims.”
Meadows is survived by his wife and three children. An online fundraiser set up to help support his family has already reached $59,000.
