[cripplecreek]

Not just cops and firefighters, either. Spectators watched too, including his elderly stepmother, who was too frail to dive into the water herself.

The stepmother can be forgiven but the majority of the people on the shore cannot.

[Scotsman will be Free]

Do I understand this story correctly in that the suicide decided to stand in the water until he suffered hypothermia then drowned?

[The KG9 Kid]

"... Weaver assured me that the firefighters who were on the scene feel horrible about what happened."

AND FEELING IS HALF THE BATTLE! (GI Jooeee!)

Thank goodness that I know they feel horrible. Now I can sleep nights again.

[DainBramage]

Tell the whole story....the guy was in waist deep water threatening to drown himself, a suicidal person the most dangerous rescue you can do.

Even people that want to live can drown the rescuer. He swam out and drowned himself.

Would you rescue someone that put a gun to their head without right equipment?

Lots of people on here are brave and courageous commenting on some event but would pee in their pants when actually called on to be a hero.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I believe that there is a distinct possibility that if anybody had saved him, they would be subject to prosecution for some reason or other.

We're talking San Francisco here.

[Louis Foxwell]

There are times when civil disobedience is the only moral option. Following immoral rules leads to gas chambers. Obviously they did not feel bad enough to do anything to help the man.
Murder charges should be brought against every civil servant who stood by and did nothing and every person who promulgated this murderous policy. Let them justify their actions before a jury. This is civil service that is not worth having.

[PLMerite]

It reminds me of when Air Florida Flight 90 bounced off the 14th Street Bridge into the Potomac in 1982. I was overseas at the time but I remember seeing video on tv of all the DCFD fireman standing there looking at the tail of the plane sticking out of the river while all those people drowned.

I lost a lot of respect for firemen because of that.

[Drill Thrawl]

Any firefighter who broke with policy could have landed in a world of bureaucratic payback. That’s the problem. No government worker in America gets fired for following the rules. As Russo put it, “We need an approach toward public service that is less rule-bound and more willing to take risk.",/i>

This bureaucratic approach of first responder managment types in rule bound risk free environment is sadly growing. Thus is the mind of the liberal in which there should be 0 risk in life.

In my CERT and MRC training we are repeatedly told that if the situation poses any risk at all, we are to back out to a safe distance. Granted we are not first responders, but if we are there, it's already really bad.

[tioga]

Lunacy from LibLand......they couldn’t just approach him throw a blanket over him and take him out of there? bunch of pansies......and they would have lost their cushy jobs and pensions disobeying the rules. only in CA...land of the liberal loons, could this happen.

[YHAOS]

Chickens coming home to roost.

[tioga]

I would just like to note that if their firemen couldn’t rescue due to lack of “training” they could not call for mutual aid to get there in time......it was a whole hour!

[Berlin_Freeper]

If he set himself on fire he might still be alive.

[HighlyOpinionated]

So he’s suicidal.

So some policeman could have pulled his gun and ORDERED him out of the water ...

Wanna bet he’d have complied?

The odds are that he didn’t really want to die, he just wanted the attention.

If it’d been me, I’d have yelled at him ‘citizen’s arrest, come out of the water, now.’

D@mn Liber@ls and their D@mn Feelings.

[DH]

And one union employee looks at the other and says “Hey, that’s not in my job description...I ain’t gonna do it. Call the shop steward if you have any gripes about it!”

Think God the union thug did not have to overstep his job duties to go after the man. Hell! He could have been driven out of the union for this unauthorized act!