In USA, Police and Firemen idly watch a man drown

I couldn't believe this when I read it... This is absolutely un-fuggin-believable....

The police chief, the fire chief, the individual officers involved, the pinheads at City Hall, they should all lose their jobs, their pensions, their benefits and all be collectively charged with manslaughter.

How crazy is a society when the very people who are responsible for ensuring public safety, rescuing those in need and just generally giving a shit are too scared to do their jobs and save a life because they might get sued ?

To top it all off, they have the arrogance and balls to blame this on
1. The budget
2. Paperwork
3. They thought he might be "armed" ?!?
4. They thought he might be "unstable" ?!?
5. The water and ground was "muddy" and the kicker.........
6. They didn't want their officers in "distress" ??????

Then to add insult to injury, they don't even recover the body. A passerby had to go and drag it back to shore before the cops, firemen and EMTs would do their thing ?

This is beyond shameful, this is an EPIC FAIL !!

To think that this would be allowed to happen is beyond insane.....


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Raw Story 

Police and firemen in Alameda, California watched a man drown on Monday after realizing they did not have proper certifications for water rescue, leaving them open to possible lawsuits if they attempted to save him.
The drowning victim, 53-year-old Raymond Zack, was apparently suicidal, according to  a report from the scene. He waded out about 150 yards into cold waters off Crown Beach in Alameda and took about an hour to drown himself.
A crowd of about 75 gathered to watch the bizarre scene, which saw police and firemen just standing at shoreline watching helplessly. After the man had drowned, authorities couldn’t even go into the surf to retrieve the body. They instead recruited a passer-by for the job.
City officials reportedly blamed the incident on budget cuts and said they would have a discussion about why Alameda, an island city, does not have proper authorization to rescue


This video is from ABC 7 in San Francisco, Calif., broadcast May 30, 2011.

Raw Story (Update) 

LOS ANGELES — A US city fire chief ordered an immediate policy change Wednesday after emergency workers stood by for an hour as a reportedly suicidal man drowned himself off a San Francisco beach. 

Michael D'Orazi, interim fire chief in the city of Alameda, said 57-year-old Raymond Zack's death on Monday was "very regrettable," but said rules had prevented his officers from attempting to rescue the man. 

Police were in charge of the situation as the man, who had walked out until he was neck-deep, reportedly trod water fully-clothed for up to an hour before drowning. The incident was watched by dozens of people from the beach. 

WATCH: Budget cuts force Calif. police and firemen to watch man drown 

Police "felt that going into the water initially might not be the best idea because they were unsure if this individual was armed, the stability of the individual," D'Orazi told CNN.
In addition for his firefighters "there was a policy in place that pretty much precluded our people from entering the water," he added, saying the rules will now be changed.
"We will be putting into effect a new policy which allows our commander discretion after these circumstances," he said.

The police said budget cuts meant no-one was properly trained for shore-to-water rescue.
"It's muddy out there. We don't want them sinking. We don't want them in distress," interim police chief Michael Noonan told the local KTVU television channel. 

Coast Guard spokesman said a rescue boat was dispatched but could not reach the man, while a helicopter was delayed by another emergency call. 

"We launched a small boat from San Francisco and our helicopter, but the boat was unable to get to the man at that location because it was too shallow for the boat to get through," spokesman Erik Swanson told the Oakland Tribune. 

The helicopter took 65 minutes to get to the scene, said the newspaper. "Our helicopter arrived and spotted the man in the water," but it was too late, said Swanson. 

The man's body was recovered by a woman in her 20s, who swam out some 50 yards off shore. When she reached the beach with him he was unresponsive, and he was declared dead in hospital a short time later, according to the Tribune.