Find out an hour later? The lady is in frozen water. You want her to wait around for an hour? Maybe throw a few shrimp on the barbie?
So you're saying the police were going to leave her waiting in the freezing water until the library identified her? What if she had no card on her at all? Is that policy? "If we don't know exactly who you are, we don't pull you from the freezing water. Sorry, pal."
No, throw that shrimp into a huge pot with crawfish, corn, potatoes and Zatarain's seasoning.
I only read the headline and thought she was dead. In an hour, she wouldn't be any more dead. And you'll need those shrimp for the wake.
But even though she was alive, the lack of info didn't impede her care, or the shrimp boil. And the library used common sense and was ready in 10 minutes. Which is 3 minutes longer than the corn takes.
The woman had already been pulled out of the water (that's how police happened ot be in possession of her library card)and delivered to emergency medical professionals by the time police were asking the library for ID info. Nobody is going to wait for an ID before giving treatment in a life-threatening situation.
You're letting your hatred of the ALA cloud your brain. That's NOT a plan for success.
The woman's life was not endangered by the library's refusal to ID her. She was already receiving emergency treatment. What the library's refusal delayed was notification of relatives.