10 year old drowns

[Stanleymad]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

They should not have been playing there in the first place!!!!!
Who is his mother to complain --alleging neglect?

Exactly & if those officers had jumped in to try to save him without medical cert/knowledge or permission - then the mother could legally [nasty how it is] lodge a breech duty of care because the officers tho tried failed or poss contributed injury. The officers haven't as such failed their duty of care because it was not their place to do so, other than call the ambulance & report it, unless in their contract otherwise to act in other ways.


For example, senario - say IF in my contract at work as TA i cannot put a plaster or give any medication nor 1st aid - without training cert but can port child to 1st officers positioned in school or in an emergency contact 999, if i do breech that i could be sacked but also sued for negligence if said child should react to plaster or any medical intervention i could of done, so u really have to be very careful indeed, because u get involved u automatically assume duty of care.

AS u see quite an interesting discussion in law terms as we did in law about duty of care.

[flashy]

most of the world arent 'qualified' to save a drowning child, but we wouldnt think twice about it if the incident happened in front of us, i hope these men are ashamed of themselves

[Stanleymad]

Yeh morally it stinks BUT legally it could constitute more trouble.

[flashy]

like i said, i'd risk my job ANYDAY to save any human being

[BERNADETTE]

Surely that is beside the point I am sure that for most people the first thought would be to try and help the child. Or are we so frightened of being sued?

[***Mr D***]

What if they had jumped in and they to needed to be saved?

Its hard for anyone to say what they would of done without being there at the time.

Kudos to the two fishermen for jumping in.

Anglers managed to pull Bethany out but Jordon was out of sight before they could get to him.

Im sure if they could of fished the boy out they would of done. Happen it wasnt as easy as just jumping in.

[flashy]

it wouldnt bother me being sued, i'd rather save a life

[lancsdave]

As an adult I would not be able to save anyones life if they are drowning. I can't swim. Are we to assume these PCSO's can swim. Is it part of the qualifications ? ( I haven't a clue so it is a serious question )

I am suprised at their absence from the inquest but given the feeling of the parents towards them maybe thats the reason ?

[Mancie]

What a load of rubbish... the way some people are trying to defend these officers..I'm not calling them cowards they are obviously thick stupid people simple as that!
All this rules and regulations stuff is just an excuse... for example are you telling me that in a scenario were a child is hanging by the neck in let's say a school changing room you can't cut them down for fear of being sacked?.. or if a child is bleeding to death you can't try to stop it and apply a bandage?.. total rubbish!!!

[Stanleymad]

Might sound rubbish Mancie but sad effects of todays life, all the pc/lawsuit era having a lot to do with it

[firefighter753]

I think people should get their facts right before they start calling people thick and stupid. The officers involved did not stand and watch a little boy thrashing around on the surface drowning if he had of been I am sure they would of gone in and helped this child. A call was given to the police when this boy and sister got into difficulty, two fishermen helped the little girl (they did not enter the water they held there fishing rods out so she could grab them and pulled her into the side)to safety but the little boy had gone under and was missing underwater by the time these officers had arrived, after the wrong address was given by the initial caller.
As a trained water rescue officer I know the hidden dangers that lurk in ponds and reservoirs and to enter one looking for a body that cannot be seen on the surface is suicidal and an absolute waste of time, with visability being absolutely nil on the bottom. The exact location of this child was unknown it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Its fine in the movies when the hero swims out and dives down to pull a victim from the depths drags him to the shore blows a couple of times in his mouth and hey presto he coughs a couple of times and he is fine, hollywood rubbish.
Lets not forget What happened to paul Metcalf, read here.

BBC News | UK | Sadness at failed lake rescue

To call these people thick and stupid is outragous, and they are probably at home with there families feeling absolutely terrible that they could not have got there sooner and got the little boy out whilst he was struggling on the surface.
You are a hero to swim out and drag a child or anyone in distress back to the shore and save there life.
But to enter a lake or pond when there is no sign of the casualty and dive down to unknown depths and hazzards without the correct equipment then you are thick and stupid.

Expierienced people in the emergency services know for a fact that once a casualty has been under for more than three or four minutes then that person will unfortunately be dead and location can only be carried out by trained personnel with breathing equipment, which is a pain staking task as you have to feel around in complete darkness.

Cut these officers some slack enough people have died entering water to find bodies without the correct equipment it is nothing to law suits etc its common sense.

[Margaret Pilkington]

I heard the mother on the radio today and she made it sound as though they had watched while her son drowned.
It is always wise to be aware that there is always another side to the story....and you can only really comment when you have all the facts.
Thanks for pointing this out to us firefighter753.

[lindsay ormerod]

firefighter753 I agree with you 100% ; the report I read said that the lad was no where in sight when the PCSOs arrived. They cannot be blamed for this tragedy.
If people took the time to fully read these reports and not just jump to conclusions these ghoulish debates would be avoided.
Thank you for your insights on this sad case.
I still believe that until you are/have been in that terrible situation you do not know how you will react.... look at the case just last week when 4 kids died trapped in a submerged car.
We all would like to think we would be heroic and jump at these situations but I have been in a similar one and I just froze. You really don't know.

[shillelagh]

Im sorry but i come down on the side of firefighter here. I agree with him. I am a trained first aider and i can swim but i wouldnt jump in somewhere to try and find someone. It could be dangerous to you and what if you ended up needing rescuing? If you got trapped in weeds or an old pram or wheels that was dumped. 1st rule of rescuing someone who has fallen in is find a branch of a tree or something similar and throw it to the person who has fallen in. 2nd rule is ring 999 and tell them exactly where you are and what has happened. DO NOT ENTER THE WATER. Wait for the emergency services and direct them to exactly where they are. That way they are not wasting time having to rescue you when they could be rescuing the person who fell in.

[firefighter753]

I heard the mother on the radio today and she made it sound as though they had watched while her son drowned.
It is always wise to be aware that there is always another side to the story....and you can only really comment when you have all the facts.
Thanks for pointing this out to us firefighter753.

Its a pleasure. It really annoys me when parents look for scapegoats and other people to blame , when they really need to ask themselves why were my children looking for tadpoles at the edge of a pond unsupervised.