Wednesday - February 22, 2012

man drowns in 3ft of water,confusion if alive or already dead so evry1 just stands & looks

Tempted to say there are no words but actually, there are. Lots of them. Unfortunately .... I can’t think of any.  This isn’t the first time something like this has happened.  This place has gone completely bonkers.

There are a number of photos at the link.  Looks more pond then lake. Notice the rescue (?) couple in one of the shots. No more then waist deep.

The story does get a bit confusing because the headline makes it appear that rescue ppl assumed he was still alive.  But one who was there seems to be under the impression that it wasn’t rescue but a body retrieval call that went out. ???  So was he already dead and how misleading is the headline?  Don’t know.
Could it be there wasn’t anyone at the exact time needed, to wade out there and grab him?

Take a look.

Fire chief ordered rescuers not to save drowning man in 3ft shallow lake as the water was more than ankle deep

Firemen refused to wade in due to health and safety rules
Drowning Simon Burgess, 41, was just 20ft away from firefighters but inquest hears they refused to save him
Police officer who went in to water was ordered back

By LUKE SALKELD

A charity worker drowned in a 3ft deep lake when a policeman and a paramedic were ordered not to try to rescue him.

Simon Burgess, 41, was left to float face down as emergency crews watched.

Health and safety rules stopped them going more than ankle deep into the lake, an inquest was told yesterday.

Simon Burgess, 41, toppled into a three foot deep lake in Gosport, Hampshire. He is thought to have suffered an epileptic fit at around the time he fell into the water. The tragic victim is pictured here feeding swans months before he died.

According to a doctor, Mr Burgess’s life could have been saved had he been removed from the water quickly.

The constable and the ambulance worker who volunteered to jump into the lake were given strict orders not to do so by fire station watch manager Tony Nicholls.

PC Tony Jones arrived at the scene on foot shortly after Mr Burgess fell into the water while feeding swans.

He told the inquest: ‘When I spoke to witnesses and found out the body hadn’t been there long I told my sergeant I was willing to go into the water.

‘He authorised me to do so and I took off my body armour but Mr Nicholls advised me strongly not to go in.

‘I said I would go in anyway and asked if I could borrow his life jacket but he said “No”, but I was going to do it regardless. It didn’t sit right with me that no one was going to get the body or assist the person in the water.

‘The control room was informed I was going in and they sent a message that under no circumstances could I go in the water.’

Paramedic Robert Wallace told the hearing he also offered to attempt to retrieve the body from the water at Walpole Park in Gosport, Hampshire.

‘I’m trained to swim in currents you go white water rafting in, but Mr Nicholls told me he didn’t want my help,’ he said.

Mr Nicholls, who is based at Gosport fire station, told the inquest that he understood the body had been in the water for five to ten minutes.

‘There were no obvious signs of life so from that I made an assessment it was a body retrieval and not a rescue,’ he said.

‘The officers were trained to go into ankle deep water, which is level one, so we waited for level two officers, who can go into chest high.

‘One of the police officers told me he would like to go in the water and I advised him in the strongest terms not to. A paramedic told me he was level two water trained, but when I asked him if he had protective equipment he said “No”, so that was the end of that.

A lot to see and more to read, HERE AT THE SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 02/22/2012 at 03:08 AM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • UK •  
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