Fuckwitted Brit rescue personnel let man drown

[mistermack]

The thing about this incident is that it's so ludicrous, most normal people can't believe it when they are told. And yet the guy in charge thought there was nothing wrong with it, and the coroner apparently didn't either. It really shows just how much the world has changed in fifty years. ( not just the uk, it's spread around the world ).

I don't believe the story they are trying to sell, that they knew the guy was dead. Firstly, that's impossible, and secondly, it only came out AFTER the incident, not at the time. At the time, when the policeman and fireman wanted to go in, they weren't told not to because he was dead, they were told it wasn't safe, wasn't allowed because of lack of equipment and because the water was more than ankle deep.

I knew two firemen when I was a kid, and heard lots of stories of rescue jobs.
In virtually every case, they IMPROVISED, and used whatever they could get their hands on, and would quite happily take personal risks. If you could go back in time, and tell them this story from the future, you would never ever convince them that it could possibly happen.

It seems that you can't improvise any more, you have to follow book procedure, and to have completed a course on it before you do anything.

I still agree with the original post that it was cowardly. Not physical cowardice. Moral cowardice.
Not fear of cold water, but fear of being responsible for your decisions, so you fall back on the book.

And it's the people who come in after a disaster, baying for blood, wanting a scapegoat, and the cowardly people at the top who cave in and give them one, who are ultimately responsible.
I

[Robert_S]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It comes what kind of regrets you want to have in hell.