During the summer, back in my teenage days, there was a family that had a summer place across the river and their son swam on the some swim team . (don't remember which one) A couple of times during the summer he and his buddies would swim across. That was always a good day when they would wash up on shore.

Completely stupid to arrest him for taking a leisurely swim. Especially if he made it to the other side and the police saw he was okay.

To the guy: Ewwwwwww. Don't you have better things to do?

 

To the cops: C'mooooon. Same question.

No one in this situation did anything wrong, except for the police.

Think about what you just said the next time you're drowning. The police should have beat the tar out of the bafoon! Fortunately for him, they are professional and did EXACTLY the right thing.

 

This guy needs to do some serious jail time for staging such a horrible public hoax. This is no different than yelling "fire!" in a crowded theater. Anyone in their right mind would assume that someone in the middle of the river is drowning. The very last thing you would think is that some idiot is actually being foolish enough to swim across. So the caller did exactly the right thing to try to save this man's life. Maybe he should have sat there and watched him a while to see whether he was "really" going to drown or not.

 

Now that we've established that it was right to call for emergency help in this situation, let's look at what could happen because of it. The police, fire, and rescue units, as well as multiple water rescue units have to fly to the scene at high speed in order to rescue the victim. Not only is this terribly costly, it takes the officers away from patrolling and take the other units away from responding to a possible "real" emergency.

 

Then of course, there's the terrifying prospect that someone could be killed in an auto accident involving one of the emergency responders. Are you going to laugh it off and say how unnecessary it was at the funerals of the accident victims?

 

And what about the copy-cat, who read about this genius's exploits and tries it for himself? "Surely, if he can do it, I can too!"

 

Whose going to explain it to his family?

 

This guy created a public panic by performing this foolishness at a time when it was obvious that he would be spotted. And he did so in such a way that he was certain to be mistaken for a drowning victim, fallen from one of the many boats or from anywhere else along the river.

 

There is only one person who did something wrong -- the swimmer. There is only one person who made a mistake -- the moron swimmer.

Maybe he was swimming on his back, bobbing, etc, and it caused the person to thing he was drowning. If I saw someone try to swim the river I'd probably react too.

 

So what would be the reaction if a bystander did nothing at all and he died?

BINGO! Now that's the logical response. :thumb:

I would have to see the guy swimming to have an opinion. I'd want to see if you could make a distinction on a guy swimming and a guy struggling to stay afloat. I guess from the bridge it would be extremely hard to make that distinction.. Either way the guy is a moron.

Think about what you just said the next time you're drowning. The police should have beat the tar out of the bafoon! Fortunately for him, they are professional and did EXACTLY the right thing.

 

This guy needs to do some serious jail time for staging such a horrible public hoax. This is no different than yelling "fire!" in a crowded theater. Anyone in their right mind would assume that someone in the middle of the river is drowning. The very last thing you would think is that some idiot is actually being foolish enough to swim across. So the caller did exactly the right thing to try to save this man's life. Maybe he should have sat there and watched him a while to see whether he was "really" going to drown oe not.

 

Now that we've established that it was right to call for emergency help in this situation, let's look at what could happen because of it. The police, fire, and rescue units, as well as multiple water rescue units have to fly to the scene at high speed in order to rescue the victim. Not only is this terribly costly, it takes the officers away from patrolling and take the other units away from responding to a possible "real" emergency.

 

Then of course, there's the terrifying prospect that someone could be killed in an auto accident involving one of the emergency responders. Are you going to laugh it off and say how unnecessary it was at the funerals of the accident victims?

 

And what about the copy-cat, who read about this genius's exploits and tries it for himself? "Surely, if he can do it, I can too!"

 

Whose going to explain it to his family?

 

This guy created a public panic by performing this foolishness at a time when it was obvious that he would be spotted. And he did so in such a way that he was certain to be mistaken for a drowning victim, fallen from one of the many boats or from anywhere else along the river.

 

There is only one person who did something wrong -- the swimmer. There is only one person who made a mistake -- the moron swimmer.

 

If what you are saying is true, then I'll go to Daytona Beach and call the police and scream, "Oh my God there are 500 people drowning right now! Get down here!!!" The 500 people that are swimming in the ocean would be breaking just as many laws as this swimmer did. Unless there is a sign prohibiting swimming, then he did nothing wrong. Its not illegal to swim. Now, if he were out in the water screaming "Help!" and acting like an idiot, he should be in trouble, but theres no law against swimming across the river.

All I can say is, this guy gets the Golden Dufus Award for the year.

 

He most definitely deserved to be arrested. It's no different than the guy who goes over Niagara Falls in a barrel, climbs the outside of a skyscraper or parachutes off a bridge. It's disorderly conduct...and exceedingly stupid.

 

What?

 

Since when has it been illegal to swim in the river?

It's not illegal to swim the river. Just an FYI - a 72 yr old man stopped his car on the bridge between Ky and Oh on75/71 Sunday night/Monday morning and jumped. He died.

Since when has it been illegal to swim in the river?

Has nothing to do with swimming in the river. It's about inducing panic.

It's not illegal to swim the river. Just an FYI - a 72 yr old man stopped his car on the bridge between Ky and Oh n 75/71 Sunday night/Monday morning and jumped.

Yeah, I bet nobody called for help because they figured he was just stopping for a leisurely swim.

Has nothing to do with swimming in the river. It's about inducing panic.

 

I don't think its his fault that bystanders panicked. The police should have evaluated this situation and let all parties go home with a laugh.

I guess from the bridge it would be extremely hard to make that distinction.. Either way the guy is a moron.

Yes.

I'll agree that he is a moron, but he still did nothing illegal.

If what you are saying is true, then I'll go to Daytona Beach and call the police and scream, "Oh my God there are 500 people drowning right now! Get down here!!!" The 500 people that are swimming in the ocean would be breaking just as many laws as this swimmer did.

Absolutely no comparison. That is a situation where it is expected to see people swimming. There is no perception of imminent peril. As I said before, you need to separate the act of swimming from what this guy did. It's not about him going swimming -- it's about him doing so in a heavily populated and heavily traveled harbor, in front of untold numbers of people.

 

If he had done this idiotic stunt down-river at Boone County or somewhere like that, I would have said "God bless his little moronic heart." But he didn't.