wow, after his family sued the agencies responsible, " In early 2013, a judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying public safety officials had no legal duty to save Zack."
what in the actual fuck is wrong with these people?
I was BSA lifeguard certified when I was a kid and a bigger part of the training than you’d think was about how to make sure that a panicking, drowning person doesn’t kill the both of you. One of the things they drill into your head over and over is that it’s really easy to get overwhelmed because in the water there’s nothing to push off of, and if you let yourself get overwhelmed two people are going to die instead of one.
“The court finds that under the circumstances presented, there was no moral blame attendant to the conduct of the responding officers and firefighters,” Hernandez said in his ruling at the Hayward Hall of Justice.
A lot of American firefighters are volunteers. Telling them that they can be personally liable in civil court if someone comes along after they try to rescue someone and thinks they could have done a better job is a great way to make sure that each and every one of those volunteer firefighters quits tomorrow.
wow, after his family sued the agencies responsible, " In early 2013, a judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying public safety officials had no legal duty to save Zack."
what in the actual fuck is wrong with these people?
it’s really hard to know exactly what happened.
Imagine that one of the first rules of being a rescue person is not to endanger yourself.
There’s plenty that could go wrong rescuing someone who’s potentially violent and doesn’t necessarily want to be rescued and neck deep in the ocean.
It sounds like an easy rescue but it would be very difficult to defend yourself if things went the wrong way.
I was BSA lifeguard certified when I was a kid and a bigger part of the training than you’d think was about how to make sure that a panicking, drowning person doesn’t kill the both of you. One of the things they drill into your head over and over is that it’s really easy to get overwhelmed because in the water there’s nothing to push off of, and if you let yourself get overwhelmed two people are going to die instead of one.
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Yeah but some police don’t realize that at least and try to be alright.
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They had moral duty, but apparently not legal duty. I see nothing wrong with this ruling, if this is what the law says.
Actually I found this:
https://www.officer.com/home/news/10877921/judge-rules-that-alameda-calif-police-had-no-legal-duty-to-aid-drowning-man
The reporting is a mess though. Hard to know exactly what happened.
Yep. Has been case precedent since 89’ ya dummies. DeShaney v. Winnebago. No duty to protect legally speaking.
Police officers also have no legal duty to help anyone, as fucked as that ruling is. Thanks, Supreme Court.
A lot of American firefighters are volunteers. Telling them that they can be personally liable in civil court if someone comes along after they try to rescue someone and thinks they could have done a better job is a great way to make sure that each and every one of those volunteer firefighters quits tomorrow.