By . John Hall . A Hawaii fish collector has been charged with 'terroristic threatening' for cutting off the air-supply regulator of a scuba-diving animal rights activist while they were both underwater. Prosecutors filed the misdemeanor charge against Jay Lovell yesterday following an incident off the coast of west Hawaii in May. Lovell is accused of pulling the air-supply regulator out the mouth of anti-aquarium-industry activist Renee Umberger when she and other divers approached while Lovell was collecting live fish to sell. Scroll down for video . Seconds before the crime: Video of the incident shows a diver (rear) quickly swim behind Umberger (front) and rip out her oxygen line. She eventually got it back in again, but then he came back for more . 'It's an appropriate charge,' 53-yer-old Umberger said on Wednesday after learning the complaint had been filed. She said people have approached her since the incident to talk about their concerns about the fish collecting practice. 'People have expressed gratitude for documenting this,' Umberger said. Victim: Rene Umberger claims it was only her vast diving experience that stopped her being killed . At the time of the incident Umberger said she had taken more than 10,000 dives in her life, and that it was only that experience that stopped her being killed. Video of the incident shows a diver quickly swim behind her and rip out her oxygen line. She eventually got it back in again, but then he came back for more. ‘I honestly thought he was coming back for a second attack,’ said Umberger. ‘I got up on the boat and I said oh my God, someone just tried to kill me underwater.’ Lovell's brother, Jim Lovell, said the divers were disrupting the fish collectors' work. 'It is very clear that Rene Umberger and her associates were responsible for this incident,' Jim Lovell said in an email to West Hawaii Today. Lovell filed a complaint against Umberger for the episode. Fishermen off the Kona coast, where the confrontation occurred, account for 75 percent of the aquarium fish caught in Hawaii. Aquarium fish collecting is legal off Kona, but fisherman must avoid certain places and collect only certain species. The incident occurred in Keawaiki Bay, where collecting is allowed. Suffocating: Umberger's air supply was ripped out, leaving her unable to breath for almost half a minute .
'Terroristic threatening' charges filed against fish collector Jay Lovell .
He is accused him of cutting off air supply of a scuba diving protester .
Animal rights activist Renee Umberger says incident could have killed her .
By . John Hall . A Hawaii fish collector has been charged with 'terroristic threatening' for cutting off the air-supply regulator of a scuba-diving animal rights activist while they were both underwater. Prosecutors filed the misdemeanor charge against Jay Lovell yesterday following an incident off the coast of west Hawaii in May. Lovell is accused of pulling the air-supply regulator out the mouth of anti-aquarium-industry activist Renee Umberger when she and other divers approached while Lovell was collecting live fish to sell. Scroll down for video . Seconds before the crime: Video of the incident shows a diver (rear) quickly swim behind Umberger (front) and rip out her oxygen line. She eventually got it back in again, but then he came back for more . 'It's an appropriate charge,' 53-yer-old Umberger said on Wednesday after learning the complaint had been filed. She said people have approached her since the incident to talk about their concerns about the fish collecting practice. 'People have expressed gratitude for documenting this,' Umberger said. Victim: Rene Umberger claims it was only her vast diving experience that stopped her being killed . At the time of the incident Umberger said she had taken more than 10,000 dives in her life, and that it was only that experience that stopped her being killed. Video of the incident shows a diver quickly swim behind her and rip out her oxygen line. She eventually got it back in again, but then he came back for more. ‘I honestly thought he was coming back for a second attack,’ said Umberger. ‘I got up on the boat and I said oh my God, someone just tried to kill me underwater.’ Lovell's brother, Jim Lovell, said the divers were disrupting the fish collectors' work. 'It is very clear that Rene Umberger and her associates were responsible for this incident,' Jim Lovell said in an email to West Hawaii Today. Lovell filed a complaint against Umberger for the episode. Fishermen off the Kona coast, where the confrontation occurred, account for 75 percent of the aquarium fish caught in Hawaii. Aquarium fish collecting is legal off Kona, but fisherman must avoid certain places and collect only certain species. The incident occurred in Keawaiki Bay, where collecting is allowed. Suffocating: Umberger's air supply was ripped out, leaving her unable to breath for almost half a minute .
cutting off the air-supply regulator of a scuba-diving animal rights activist while they misdemeanor charge against Jay Lovell yesterday Hawaii in May. Lovell is accused of pulling the anti-aquarium-industry activist Renee Umberger Umberger's air supply was ripped out, leaving her