“Assumes facts not in evidence. There’s more compelling evidence that Kopechne suffocated instead of drowned”
I was 15 and nearby when this happened.
An MIT scientist reported that she suffocated. He also proved that it was low tide. Kennedy stated it was near high tide.
The diver who retrieved her body (quite fully submerged) reported an air pocket remained in the car and the undertaker who prepared her body for transport reported that there was very little water in her lungs. He measured the water that he expelled, it was about a pint, iirc. Drowning victims have quarts. (He was familiar with drowning victims, working in a popular summer resort area.)
The undertaker was also surprised that the medical examiner released her body to leave the state without an autopsy. It was the only case of accidential death in which this had ever occured in his memory, before or since. He did take the precaution of drawing a blood sample, and yes, she was intoxicated.
I checked the tide tables for Edgartown. Peak to peak tides in the month of July, 2009 are less than 3 ft. (1969 would have been very similar) High or low tide probably wouldn’t change the level of Pocha Pond, very much, obviously. It is, however, narrow so that during the change in tides there would have been a very strong currents making swimming or opening and closing doors in a submerged car difficult.