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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Re: WDYT? Man drowns himself in SF Bay while emergency responders stand by and watch
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Harmony Doula
Sucky situation but
1) the guy didn't just drown, he committed suicide which is a really dangerous situation for a water rescue
2) I think it's perfectly reasonable for Alameda to not have a lifeguard force since they don't really have swimming beaches and they have the Coast Guard right there
3) it sucks that the guy was in water that was too shallow for the Coast Guard boat and the CG helicopter took so long to get there.
4) I bet they'll end up paying more for the lawsuit than if they'd paid for the training
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if department policy says they can't respond, then they may be personally liable for any negative consequences which arise if they do respond. So if someone tried to save him and he ended up severely injured (like if he broke his neck while they tried to bring him into shore), the responder could be personally on the hook for an 8-figure lawsuit.
I'm frustrated by the message that they did nothing which isn't true, Alameda put a call into the Coast Guard. As I understand, a CG boat did respond but couldn't put anyone in the water because they were too far away.
And, it's not like Alameda has no plan for water rescues, they do, it just involves the CG.
They showed up because that's their job. But, it's also their job to follow procedure. They probably didn't have all the details before they showed up, and once they did arrive, they saw that, because of all the red tape and budget cuts, they weren't allowed to do anything.
I don't place blame on the public safety workers at all. They can only do what they're trained to do. I blame the government oficials and leaders who do not value public safety and continue to make cuts that result in death and tragedy.
Why do I just feeling like saying this is the world we live in? We *** and *** about taxes and then get pissed off when there's no rescue services/mental health services/medical services/education available for our screwed up world? Guess I'm feeling cynical tonight.
Well said.
from what i understand, emergencey personnel arrived at the scene and stood there watching as did SEVENTY FIVE people on the shoreline. there were a few factors at play 1- it was a sucide, difficult situation to begin w/; 2- it was a grown adult, had it been a child, someone would have dove in - face it kids weigh less *in most instances* than adults making a water rescue more likely; 3- the training required for water rescues was halted due to budget cuts. i haven't heard yet about the uscg being called in but due to water depth issues they couldn't get a boat there (too shallow).
in the end, it comes down to liability. we live a very very very sue happy world. people are encouraged to sue if the SLIGHTEST thing goes wrong that 'they' think shouldn't have gone wrong. as horrible as it sounds, alameda county did the 'right' thing and stood there on the shoreline. morally and ethically was it the right thing to do, probably not. it should be interesting to see if the survivors' sue the county.
I think it's pretty likely the family will sue. And as far as I understand it, it was the City of Alameda responding, not the county, so they would be the ones sued.
in this day and age sometimes you have no idea if a city has their own emergency services or in an effort to cut costs, shed their city services and contract out with the county. in any event, the city (as the emergency responders) will be sued.