April 12, 2005
Midshipman Found Dead After Apparent Fall
Associated Press
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A student at the U.S. Naval Academy who was found dead outside a campus dormitory of an apparent fall was being remembered as “a fine young man with a bright future” in the Navy.
Midshipman Second Class Jay Michael Dixon, 21, of Destrehan, La., was discovered on Saturday and declared dead at the scene.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating. The academy said no further information was available Sunday, including where Dixon may have fallen from.
“The investigation is still ongoing,” said Cmdr. Rod Gibbons, the academy’s spokesman. “Where did he fall from, when, how. And until that investigation determines those facts, it would be premature to say.”
Dixon, a third-year midshipman, was a physics major and a member of the campus radio station. He joined the academy “because he loved his country dearly,” his aunt Donna Hendley told The Washington Post.
“He wanted to do this ever since he was a young child, a kid in grade school. He liked working with his hands, building things, gardening and loading ammunition by hand,” Hendley said. “He was hoping to be part of the U.S. Marine Corps, but those assignments don’t get made until the fourth year.”
Dixon is survived by his brother, Gregory, 18, and his mother, Debra H. Dixon, Hendley said. Dixon’s father is deceased.
The family didn’t have details about how Dixon died, Hendley said. She said she believes the death was an accident and that the family expects investigators will rule out suicide and foul play.
At the Naval Academy, Dixon was remembered as “a fine young man with a bright future as a naval officer,” as well as a member of the Society of Physics Students and the academy’s radio station, Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, the academy’s superintendent, said in a written statement.
“A proud member of the Academy’s 20th Company, he was well-liked and admired by all those who knew him,” Rempt said. “Our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences go out to Midshipman Dixon’s family and friends.”
As other midshipmen learned of Dixon’s death, chaplains and other counselors were available for counseling.
In February, a judge dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Navy filed by the family of a Naval Academy student who had fallen more than 50 feet from his dorm window in 2002.
Midshipman John Paul Ruggiero’s family claimed that the window in their son’s room did not have a screen and was unsafe. They also said academy officials knew that students routinely used the window sills as a first step to reach their bunks.
But the judge agreed with Navy lawyers who said the claim was barred by a doctrine that protects the military from being sued over injuries to people on active duty.
Since then, safety devices have been installed on windows that one could fall from, Gibbons said.
