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What do you mean, "let him make the choice"?! He was calling out for help! He didn't want to drown.
He jumped in the water and then changed his mind? That’s on him.
When I was working for LASD, we assisted LAFD to help people to evacuate their homes from the wildfire. Some people were stubborn and refused to leave their home. We told them that help will not come if they are in trouble.
If this was a child I would expect the cops to jump in. Just like anyone would. This isnt. This is a grown adult, you jump in there, and hes gonna grab onto you for dear life....and you are both going under and dying.
I think they would act much differently if a child was in water not a homeless man.
There would be a public outrage if they didn't do anything.
But a homeless man, most likely mentally impaired - who cares, right?
It’s not that people don’t care, I care. Life is extraordinarily precious, all life including that homeless man’s. However, so are the cops’ lives. I realize they sign up for a job that may require they put that life in jeopardy, but that is not the same as saying your life is expendable in all circumstances. In this case, since they are untrained in rescuing drowning adults, what the experts tell us is the end result would more likely be two deaths, not one rescue.
There is a very good reason lifeguards first step in saving a drowning person is throwing
a flotation-device.....getting close to a drowning person is very dangerous.
Those cops needed a flotation-device in their vehicle...........jump-in, there is
a very good chance they would be dead also.
I don't know about this one, suicide should not be taboo. If someone wants to die, let them. I have no qualms about officers letting an adult make that choice.
I agree, freedom of choice includes suicide.
As long as you don't take anyone else with you, it's none of my business.
And stop sending rescue teams to recover the body, that's taxpayer money being spent.
If this was a child I would expect the cops to jump in. Just like anyone would. This isnt. This is a grown adult, you jump in there, and hes gonna grab onto you for dear life....and you are both going under and dying.
I don't think people truly understand how very real this scenario is. When I took lifeguard training as a young man, we were taught to approach from behind, even if that mean diving under water to swim underneath the victim, because if we approached head on, the victim was likely to jump on us in a panic and have both of us drown.
I also used to be a ropes course, rock climbing instructor/director, and we had the same scenario here whenever we had to go rescue someone who would freeze and refuse to come down. My directions to the staff were always to climb up just below and to the side of the victim, and if they wouldn't come down, just pull a foot (of the victim) so that they would lose their balance and end up suspended on the rope, where we could then lower them down safely without the victim having any opportunity to jump on the rescuer in a panic.
As for the cops, I am kind of surprised they didn't at least have a rope to throw to the person and pull him in, but i'm not a cop, I don't know what they have, or what they are allowed/comfortable doing.
Water rescues are the purview of the Fire Dept...I don't know many police officers who get trained in water rescues.
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