50-year-old Raymond Zack waded into the surf on an Alameda, California beach and stood calmly in the 54-degree water, apparently waiting to die. His suicide took nearly an hour, but eventually he drowned, with no rescue attempts from any of the 75 San Franciscans who gathered on the shore to watch the entire tragedy.
Why didn’t anyone try to rescue the man?
Apparently it was because nobody was paid to do it. You see, stopping Zack from killing himself wasn’t anyone’s job.
The media’s focus in reporting yet another disturbing incident with echoes of the murder of Kitty Genovese has been exclusively on the inert Alameda police and firemen who witnessed Zack’s suicide. “Fire crews and police could only watch,” wrote the Associate Press.
What does the AP mean, “they could only watch”? Were they shackled? Held at gunpoint? Were all of them unable to swim? They didn’t have to watch and do nothing, they chose to watch and do nothing, just like every one of the bystanders who weren’t police or firemen chose to be passive and apathetic when saving a life required action and risk.
City budget cuts caused the fire department to discontinue water rescue training and stop maintaining wetsuits and other rescue gear, a fire chief explained. “The incident yesterday was deeply regrettable,” Interim Alameda Fire Chief Mike D’Orazi said. “But I can also see it from our firefighters’ perspective. They’re standing there wanting to do something, but they are handcuffed by policy at that point.”
Oh, they had to watch because they were handcuffed! Well that’s another…wait, you mean just metaphorically? Then I repeat: nothing was stopping any of the firemen from rescuing the man, except that it wasn’t in their job descriptions, thanks to the priorities of the local government. What else did the lack of policy mean? Does anyone think for a moment that a fireman or police officer who plunged into the Bay and saved Raymond Zack’s life would be fired or disciplined? He would have been lauded and praised, and the incident would have caused an immediate revision of the new “strict policy,” just as it is doing now, except that a man wouldn’t have had to die to make the point.
This incident isn’t about policy or budget cuts, and it isn’t only about dereliction of duty by the police and firefighters. The unnecessary death of Raymond Zack is about an entire community’s lack of compassion and responsibility for a human being in peril. “Golden Rule? What’s that?” The suicide took an hour: if there was nobody in the gawking crowd who could swim—a proposition that I find unbelievable—, a text message could have had a rescuer there in minutes, presuming anyone in the city cared enough to save a life. Nobody summoned help, or if they did, nobody came.
The Golden Gate Rule: “It’s not my problem.”
“We expected to see at some point that there would be a concern for him,” Gary Barlow, one of the motionless bystanders, told reporters at station KGO.
Why didn’t you have “concern” Gary? What was handcuffing you?
Apathy. Callousness. Laziness. 21st Century reliance on the government to do what you should do for yourself. Fear. “It’s not my job.” “I didn’t want to get involved.”
“I don’t really care. I don’t know the guy.”
Are the firefighters and police more culpable than Gary and the Bystanders (there must have been a 60’s band by that name, somewhere)? Sure. They are paid to be heroes. They are in the public protection business; saving lives is their profession. For them to be sitting by the dock of the bay while Raymond Zack’s life ebbed away is especially unconscionable. For them, this was every bit as despicable as the Brooklyn EMTs who let a pregnant woman die in front of them because they were on a break, or the Seattle security guards who stood by and watched three girls brutally beat a woman , doing nothing because they were not supposed to get directly involved in law enforcement matters…more despicable, really, because there were more than just a few individuals on the scene with public safety responsibilities, and because the incident unfolded so slowly. OK, the ethics alarms may have been a little rusty, but if they worked at all, why didn’t they ever go off?
And if they weren’t going to go off, if the professionals were going to check their policy manuals and decide, “Nope, nothing here about rescuing people trying to drown themselves!” then they should have left. Maybe that would have roused at least one non-professional hero to do his or her duty as a human being and member of the community. Or would they, like Gary Barlow, simply shrug and say, “Huh. The police and firefighters left! I expected that there would be a concern. Guess not.”
“I wonder who the Giants play tonight?”
The United States has a daunting mountain of problems. The national debt is poised to crush us, and neither our leaders nor the public appear to have the character or will to address it. The international climate is as dangerous and uncertain as it was during the Cold War, and yet America no longer has the resources, confidence or sense of purpose to assert its traditional leadership role. Major corrosive, long-term crises loom in public works and the transportation infrastructure, the financial sector. the environment, health care and illegal immigration without solutions or even coherent policy in sight. This is all bad enough. But if the United States citizens lose their ability and resolve to do what’s right when fellow human beings are in mortal peril, if our ethics alarms cease to function like they ceased to function on the shores of San Francisco Bay, our society and our culture is doomed. Done. It’s over. And if that’s the way Americans are going to think and behave, it’s just as well.
It is ironic that this revolting display of American callousness occurred so close to Memorial Day. We are losing WW II veterans by the thousands every week, all of whom fought to ensure that there would be an America that acted like America, filled with Americans who had the values of Americans. They wouldn’t have stood by and allowed Zack to drown, and they would have been shocked that Raymond Zack would be allowed to drown anywhere in the nation. I know my late father, one of whose decorations for valor was for rescuing a fellow soldier trapped in a submerged Jeep, would have acted if he had been on the shore. I once saw him jump into a pond to rescue a little girl who had fallen off a bridge. Was it his job? I know what he would have said.
“Of course it was. It’s everybody’s job.”
Not, apparently, in Almeda, California,in 2011.
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[Once again, thanks to Lianne Best for the story. I think. Now I’m depressed.]
NOTE: In an earlier version of this post, I incorrectly attributed the incident to San Francisco, not Almeda. I apologize to the police, fire fighters, and any other San Franciscans who would have tried to save Mr. Zacks.
Ethics Alarms 
I was a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer/EMT in San Francisco, back in the late 80s.
If anyone had called the Coasties, they would have done something.
Shocking, though, that no civilian took action. Paid heroes are one thing, but what about human decency? Look up Lennie Skutnik for a real hero.
Doesn’t everyone remember (the late) Lenny Skutnik, the DC civilian hero who rescued passengers of the Air Florida crash into the Potomac during a blizzard? I should write about him, just to make sure he isn’t forgotten.
Maybe if someone would have shouted, “I have a camera phone and will put the video of someone saving this guy on YouTube”…
The mention of Air Florida Flight 90 brings to mind a short piece I wrote on it a couple years back…I’m old enough to remember the actual event, as are a good many of the ethical people that frequent this site. It focused more on Arland Williams (the man in the water).
Apparently we don’t build heroes like we used to. Heck, Raymond Zack didn’t even need a hero. He just needed someone who cared.
Keep up the good work.
Regards,
Joel
I live in Alameda. We have a Coast Guard Base on our island. They were called immediately – as they provide service in lieu of our police/fire for water rescues since 2009 when the water rescue program was eliminated due to budget cuts. They attempted to rescue the man with a boat but were unable to do so due to the depth of the water – they could not get the boat close enough to him. A Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched but arrived too late. I suggest you get more information from local sources in Alameda because you do not have all the details. Bystanders were told the Coast Guard was handling it, it has been reported. I recommend you google Alameda Patch – a local news blog for more comprehensive coverage of this. This entire community is heartsick over this man’s death.
I no longer can tell what are facts and what is community spin.
Next I’ll read that the whole town formed an armada to save the guy, but he fought them off with weasels and machetes. How come the Coast Guard can rescue people on boats in a hurricane, but a 50 year old man standing in the bay is too much of challenge? Why did people in the crowd tell the story they did to the media? How did they miss this rescue attempt?
The cover story need a little work.
Partially correct. The Alameda County Fire Dispatcher and Dispatch Supervisor handling this incident CANCELLED multiple boats from both Oakland Fire and Alameda County Fire Both boats would have been able to assist. Who doesn’t send the proper boat to a water rescue? female employees hired and retained based on gender, not merit. Upper management knew these employees were a liability but chose to do nothing, therefore Fire Department management is complicit in Raymond Zack’s murder. Will they do jail time? Doubt it.
Agreed. And “The Golden Gate Rule: ‘It’s not my problem'” is one of your best lines.
Makes me want to vomit. This was NOT how I was raised. Yet, it’s okay when one of these “heroes” dies in uniform (notice I did not say “while performing their duties”) we, as taxpayers, are expected to foot the overtime, fuel and other “expenses” while hundreds of their “brothers and sisters” clog traffic and cause accidents from gawkers.
Each and everyone of those police and firefighters should have 2 weeks unpaid leave to decide whether they choose the right profession or not.
Shame on all of you. You’ve given a black eye to departments all across the country and have tarnished the memory of those who sacrificed themselves on 9/11.
You make me ashamed to know I belong to the same union as you do, “brothers”.
Perhaps many of you saw last Friday ‘s 20/20. A group of soldiers were under attack in Afghanistan. As a result of this attack, one young man was hit. A live bomb was lodged his body. The soldiers, rescue helicopter crew, physicians and nursing staff all knew they were breaking the “regulations” for a situation like that, when they brought him back to the hospital. In this effort, they knew their own lives were in danger (either killed or maimed); but still these military heros rescued and saved this young man’s life. It is my belief the military personnel did their duty as human beings first and then soldiers. No doubt the young man, who is a husband and father, is thankful his mates were not . . . “handcuffed by policy.”
As you said above re WWII vets, . . . “They wouldn’t have stood by and allowed Zack to drown, and they would have been shocked that Raymond Zack would be allowed to drown anywhere in the nation.”
The Zack story, indeed, is miserable and painful. It is a story, however, that needs to be told. Slaps us in the face revealing our spineless human weakness. We must keep telling ourselves, for every non-caring human, there are many more individuals, such as the soldiers mentioned above, or your father, who are the “angels” here on earth.” And for them, I am grateful.
I was a life guard growing up and when I was in the Marines and I can tell you that if someone told me a person was trying to kill themselves by getting hyperthermia and drowning in 54 degree water I would think long and hard before I swam out to rescue them. I had people who were drowning attack me as I swam up to me and they were happy to see me. I can only imagine what this guy may do.
It’s certainly a valid consideration. A good reason for more than one person to go after him.
First off, this did not happen in San Francisco, it happened in Alameda (in the East Bay). Before you condemn an entire city you might want to get your facts straight.
Yes, someone…ANYONE…should have helped this person, and it has been reported that some did try and help. Too late, I don’t know.
I do know that characterizing an entire city as morally apathetic is ethically alarming in itself. Not everyone here turns a blind eye, some do, others don’t. I help when I see a problem, in fact I stopped to assist with two situations in the last month alone. One on the freeway another in a restaurant.
Be careful when making sweeping generalizations, one day you might find yourself caught up in one.
I’ll correct that. Almeda is on the other side of the Bay. I got muddled information; my fault.
When multiple police and firefighters AND another 60 or so citizens allow a man to drown in front of them without anyone doing anything for 45 minutes, I don’t think sweeping generalizations—-there is a deep ethical and spiritual sickness out there, and it isn’t isolated to Alameda—are the least bit out of line. It is less accurate to cite one individual’s personal actions to relegate an incident like this to meaninglessness. How could anyone cite “policy” as an excuse?
I’m caught up in sweeping generalizations all the time. Come with the territory.
Thanks for the correction.
Ms Hathaway:
A man died and you are busy defending your city? It was Alameda, not San Francisco? Then we have a real ethical dilemma, don’t we?
Buck up. It happened there. It doesn’t matter what JURISDICTION it was in. But it happened. Shame on you for trying to defend a PLACE rather than an EVENT.
Yes someone should have gone in to help him but in those water temps and exerting themselves they risked getting hypothermia and dying themselves. If he had been in an ice covered river your are told to not go in after him but to find a way to rescue him with out going in the water. The person to blame for his death is him.
With that said someone should have called the Coast Guard. They are equipped and trained to rescue someone in this situation. Anyone not trained and equipped to do so is putting their own life at risk.
I think that’s why they call them “heroes,” isn’t it?
Doing something proactive is the operative matter. Standing around, calling nobody, saying “oh that poor man!” and “why doesn’t somebody do something?” is obviously not the way to go.
I don’t call all fireman and police officers heroes. And this incident shows why I don’t. When you set all of them on a pedestal you ignore that some of them are more heroic then others.
They can’t have it both ways, Bill;you know that both professions encourage the description of their profession in general as “heroes,’ especially when benefits are on the line.
Of course you are 100% right.
And they did call the Coast Guard, the water was too shallow for their boat, and the Coast Guard’s helicopter was out on another call. And from the descriptions from witnesses saying he kept on looking back to beach it seems to me that this idiot wasn’t intent on killing himself but betting someone would come get him and stop him. If he really wanted to kill himself all he had to do was submerge himself and take a deep breath.
If he was betting someone would stop him..as many suicides are…then you wouldn’t be afraid of him fighting you, right?
A lot of really productive people have come close to suicide.
Partially correct. The Alameda County Fire Dispatcher and Dispatch Supervisor handling this incident CANCELLED multiple boats from both Oakland Fire and Alameda County Fire Both boats would have been able to assist. Who doesn’t send the proper boat to a water rescue? female employees hired and retained based on gender, not merit. Upper management knew these employees were a liability but chose to do nothing, therefore Fire Department management is complicit in Raymond Zack’s murder. Will they do jail time? Doubt it.
Only if he was a whale or a dolphin…
Or a dog who fell in a well, or a moose in an icy lake.
I can understand how hypothermia due to the frigid water, and whether the suicidal man could be violent or not, are factors to why they couldnt perform the rescue.
But what I don’t understand is, there were a lot of people there. Couldn’t a few of them go in together to try to overpower the suicidal man if he fought back?
And when he died, apparently an off-duty nurse waded in and pulled his body out. If a nurse(bystander) could go in the frigid water with no gear, why couldn’t the firefighters/police(who are more trained in rescue procedures) do it?
I probably don’t know too much, but this is still really sad news
June 1, 2011 8:05 P.M.
Archbishop Walter & First Lady Nyoka Dixon of Forgiveness Missionary Church Of Christ, Atlanta, GA Prayer for the family and love ones over the senseless Death of Raymond Zack while emergency responders of Alameda County, CA watched.
cc: President Barack Obama- President of the United States, Mike Noonan-Chief of Police, Sheldon Gilbert-Fire Chief, Beverly Johnson-Mayor, Governor Jerry Brown and all media outlets.
Dear God of Eternity,
Life is precious to each one of us, even though we want to say no to death. We see death as the dark, mysterious enemy that destroys the good that you have created.
Lord why didn’t the fire and police rescue units of Alameda County not use their professional life saving skills to stop this death, we will never know. Even thought the county budget was cut, “Lord” when does lack of funding overcome saving a life? May the minds and hearts of the local officials in Alameda County never allow a life to be cut short so soon.
I pray Father that the local officials would repent of their wicked ways as they stood idly by for more than forty five minutes and watched your child to drown without as much as throwing in a rope to assist in his survival. Father, I pray that the police/EMS would repent because after they allowed Brother Raymond to drown, they asked a citizen that was passing by to go into the lake to retrieve the dead body. Father, please forgive them for such an atrocity.
Lord whatever our brother Raymond Zack mind, body and soul may have encountered, “Lord” I ask that you send your Angels down from Heaven to aid others that may find themselves in the same position of our beloved brother.
Help the love ones and family of our beloved brother Raymond Zack to see death as you see it. Not the end but the beginning, not a wall but a doorway, not a dark road but a path that leads to eternal light and life.
We will miss our brother in “Christ” Raymond Zack, but we thank you, Lord, for memory. May our minds and hearts be filled with the wonderful recollections of his past? Help us “Lord” through our sadness to wear a smile as the passing of time wipes our tears away. Time can be a great physician when it heals the void that we now feel.
Every life is a gift from you, dear Father. Thank you for sharing the life of Raymond Zack with us. Lord help make his family an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let them sow love. Where there is injury, place in their hear pardon. Where there is doubt, let them have hope. Where there is darkness, let them see light. Where there is sadness, let them have joy.
O “Lord”, grant that they will be consoled by family, friends and love ones. That they may be understood, as to understand, To be loved, as to love. For it is pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
In Your Son Jesus name…..Amen.
Baptist Archbishop Walter Dixon
Forgiveness Missionary Church Of Christ
Direct-678.439.9342
Office-678.948.8747
Prayer-678.667.0090
I have posted this prayer on Google, FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, Yahoo and YouTube for others to join in prayer.
I was just sick to my stomach when I heard about this today!! I am out there everyday on Alameda Beach at Shoreline, right there at Willow and I cannot believe what I have heard and read. I cannot swim but I swear I would have tried to help him and would have urged others to do so as well, even if it meant going against what an officer says, even if it meant that my life would have been jeopardized or lost in the process. I would not be able to live with myself if I didn’t try. Suicide or not, he needed someone to care, to show some fucking concern for human life… and I am appalled that whether at the order of uniformed men or not that no one except the one woman, and perhaps a wind surfer or one other tried or thought to help. 60-75 by-standers???? I left the beach just an hour before he allegedly went out there. I even think I recognize this man since I frequent the beach so often. I am heartbroken and furious. I am ashamed to be a resident of Alameda.
And, I can tell you all some stories about The Fire Dept and the Police via personal experience here. If you heard it, you would think what I do… they are a total joke and deserve no respect whatsoever. We are all better off learning to save and protect ourselves and each other rather than rely on them. And yes, I do know people personally who are firefighters and police officers. I have yet to ask what they would have done in this situation. Maybe…. I do not want to know.
A “Hero” is heroic because he/she acts on instincts and from the heart, usually without too much thought or concern for his/her own safety, without worry over any repercussions…. not because or when he/she gets paid to do so.
A coward is when he/she does not act at all.
Ting, I agree. Someone should have at least tried to take him out of it. I do not know if many of them did not care, hope they did, but whether or not, they wanted professionals to do this, they could have at least made their compassion noticeable to the victim, especially if the victim is a suicidal one. I think the bystanders need to consider how they would feel if they tried a suicidal attempt, and no one (no one) came to their rescue. They need to consider what they have done, they basically told a person to die, by not helping them. I am glad at least the firefighters and police officers were there, a guy on a surfboard tried to console him, and a nurse swam him to rescue him, but it really concerns me and saddens me why no one tried to do anything about it earlier, and it went on for two hours. If they did not want to swim, they could at least have shouted, “No, man, don’t do that, that’s not the answer” or “Please, stop, think what about you’re doing”, but instead they just basically told a suicidal person to go ahead and kill their self. What irks me even more is that only thirty people attended his funeral, thirty. I hope the bystanders feel proud about what they have done, and pay their respects for someone they let die. They left a man to die, a suicidal man to die, and made life even worse for him by not coming to his aid. I wish his family will get the money, justice will be served, and the bystanders give the family at least some money for doing such a terrible thing. Screw you, people, just screw you, hope you feel real proud of yourselves now, as in a way, you are now murderers, enjoy having that on your consciences. I know this happened in 2011, but I want updates on this and soon.
I live in Alameda and I happened upon this incident at the end. Certainly an unfortunate incident for everyone involved. However, I don’t agree with the criticism presented in this article. I think sweeping generalizations are disguisting. Is the author so brave that HE would have swum out 150 yards from the shore to rescue a 300 lb suicidal man? I am a very good swimmer and as a woman who weighs half of what this man weighs… I would never have attempted to swim out and bring him back to shore. I was a lifeguard and I know how quickly someone that weighs even less than you can take you down and drown you. Swim out to him and keep my distance and try to talk him into coming back to shore? Sure. But swim out to try to get him and physically bring him back to shore. Never. Not without the proper rescue tools. And none of the police or firefighters had the proper rescue tools. Who knows how many of them could even swim 150 yards? In case you’re not familiar, that’s approximately 3 lengths of an Olympic sized pool. Last time I checked a swimming test was not a requirement to becoming a firefighter or a police officer.
Maybe the real issue is there should be lifeguards on the beach of Alameda during summer weekends and holidays. People that are trained in this type of dangerous situation. I think the more disturbing issue is the recent trend of suicides I’ve been hearing of. It seems that lately so many people are turning to suicide and that is bothersome.
All too often, people blame the police and fire departments. It’s so easy to be behind your computer Monday morning quarterbacking every situation. But guess what? If they had attempted to rescue this suicidal man and something had gone wrong, then the question would be “Why was the department policy broken?”. Its sad that we live in a society where those that live their lives to serve the community are constantly criticized. Damned if they do; and damned if they don’t.
“Unfortunate”=ethical humming.
It was WRONG. I couldn’t swim out there myself, but I would wade out there to try to talk him in. I would be calling and running around and asking people and trying to organize some kind of rescue. I would be calling the media and putting as much pressure on the firefighters and police as possible. I would have found a bull horn. I would have tried to do something, and out of 75 people, some solution should have been found.
There’s no excuse for this. None. NONE. Your brand of shrugging it off just ensures that we’ll continue to become more callous.
I agree, Jack, they should have least shouted consoling things to them. I do not think all of them did not care, but on the majority, it is sad, sick, and scary to see how many avoided trying to help him. You do not do that, you just don’t. Whether or not, you want to get involved with a suicidal person, you are still entitled to help in some way or another, and if they are that suicidal, and you know they wish to die, you do not urge it, you help them. This was not right, not right at all, and should not have happened. R.i.p. Raymond
I agree with you, considering the possible weight burden, but seventy five witnessed this incident, and to me, did not seem to be compassionate at all, though they took the time to see what was going on, perhaps they were so shocked they did not how to respond, I do not know. However, if bringing back a heavier person would be an issue for them, they should have at least tried to console the man by shouting words to him about fighting against suicide, they could have done this with a bullhorn. Someone here said some sources say that some did try to help, but unfortunately, I was not there, so I cannot say if they meant it or not. I can appreciate at least the man who surfed towards him telling him to pray, the nurse who swam out to him and brought him back shore, and the police officers and firefighters who did at least came. I question if the man was truly suicidal, since he occasionally looked back at the people on shore, probably testing them, but intentional or not, he died, and he in no way deserved to die that way. I also question, though, why only thirty came to his funeral, more should have came, at least in my opinion. Honestly, I have trouble believing that all the seventy five people who witnessed this did not care, but the way this ended up was still tragic, but at least he is at peace. This, unfortunately, is one of the things that did happen that should never have. I wish more witnesses of this incident would speak up and tell us entirely what happened. Was this truly an incident where someone intentionally took their own life, and no one decided to give a damn, or was this just a call for attention? I guess, we will never know. Now, for the head’s up, if the suicide was intentional, and you are one of those who do not give a damn about the person who considers it, then shame on you, you do not need to know someone to care about them. Whatever happened to love and respect?
Classic stalemate initially. Guy in the water, possibly combative, possibly armed, wants to die. Everybody knows you don’t send cops to fight fires, and you don’t send firefighters to an in progress crime. Alameda City used to have a boat, but they retired it. Why? Alameda City is still an island in the SF bay, right? Having water rescue capability is a no brainer. But even without a boat there are neighboring FD’s who could have sent mutual aid, and the coast guard base at COAST GUARD ISLAND, ALAMEDA CA is something like 3 miles away. Inexcusable.
P.S. – Had anyone tried to wade out into the mud without special boots, they could themselves have been killed by the bay before they even got to the patient. The mud there is like quicksand. And regardless of the outcome, they would have been promptly fired on the spot for violating policy. How do I know this? Because I used to work for Alameda County FD. I was fired for raising safety concerns re inadequate equipment, negligent retention of certain employees, and delayed responses like this one that contributed to other deaths. Clearly public safety is not a priority for the FD’s in Alameda County, and those FD’s are desperately in need of a wake up call from the public.
Great and useful, informative comment. Thanks.
This is indeed a disturbing story, but not at all uncommon and for reasons which the sanctimonious tongue-cluckers will almost certainly not take into account. First, I would agree with K. Hathaway that one can only disparage those who were actually present and possibly could have intervened, and not an entire city, especially the wrong one. So the so-called Golden Gate Rule is clever but insulting and incorrect. I strongly suspect some of the animus this story has aroused is directed at the Bay Area in general by conservatives accustomed to deriding this “liberal” area. Be that as it may, such incidents can and do happen anywhere. Probably the most instance was the Kitty Genovese case back in the sixties. Go to the internet and look up “10 Notorious Cases of the Bystander Effect.” People turn their backs on situations other than just this in many other places, and sometimes in far more dire and disastrous ways. How many bullied teens have committed suicide recently? No one knew? It strains credibility. How many of the self-styled heroes walk past people in serious trouble on city streets every day? How many people give little or no thought to the suffering of the Iraqi or Afghan people caused by the actions of our government? This is simply to say that apathy is always bad (sanctimony as well) and that we can all do better to be aware of the plight of our fellow humans.
When I decide to start a category called “Lazy Balderdash of the Day”, I may use this comment as a template. “Everybody does it” so it’s OK. Brother. Aren’t people aware of what a pathetic, ethically obtuse excuse this is? Kitty Genovese’s death has been infamous for over 50 years BECAUSE it was so rare. The condition is becoming more common, and if it’s common, that makes it more important to condemn it, not less. “The bystander effect” is just trendy social science categorizing—it’s the self-centered, cowardly, unkind, uncaring effect.
What do bullied teens have to do with anything? What does Iraq have to do with this? Why not cite Willy Wonka, the Black Plague, Soupy Sales, and the administration of Franklin Pierce? “Everything isn’t fixed, so what right do you have to criticize anything?” Lame, lame, dumb, lame, sad, lame, dumb, dumb, and sad. Did I mention lame?
If a city produces 75 random citizens plus public servants and can’t rouse their torpor to save a troubled human being given 45 minutes to do it, the community FLUNKS Humanity and Ethics 101. That’s not sanctimonious (Translation: “Calling people’s attention to unethical conduct that they would be happier not thinking about), that’s descriptive.
I’ll stick with The Gold Gate Rule, thanks…close enough, artistic license, and also only applicable to those whom its applicable to…the Bridge itself, for example, isn’t insulted.
RATIONALIZATIONS !!! No “Golden Rule” any more?
For God’s sake, funding and fear notwithstanding, was there NO ONE in Alameda who had the chutzpah to wade out 150 yards to save a man?
Even if he didn’t want saving: at least someone could have given him the chance for hospitalization and therapy…
Cowards. Rationalizers. Shame on you. A man is dead because of … budgets? orders? fear? past experience? Two or three people could have gotten together in two minutes’ time and dragged the man in. But no… we just let it happen.
Perhaps this is why when a person is being attacked, police advise that said person yell “Fire!” rather than “Help!” (No one responds to “Help” because it puts them at personal risk. “Fire,” on the other hand, puts a whole group at risk. And aren’t we a great society?)
I am thoroughly disgusted… not just by the event but more so by the comments.
Wow! All you people complaining about something you did not see first hand making assumptions about others who risk their lives each day whether law enforcement or firefighters, EMT’s and to judge them ever!shame on you! What about some crisis line person, do you actually think this guy contemplated suicide and never called a crisis line? Point fingers at them too and while you are at it point fingers at yourself,how often do you help at the many shelters in Alameda? I was born there and it doesn’t come down to ONE person,ONE department to save an entire city. As far as life being so precious, apparentley Raymond did not feel the same way. Why should it be the responsibility of others to rescue a person who did not want rescuing? How many of you bleeding hearts do one thing or lift one finger to help homeless? Do you turn away or offer help? Look in the mirror! Had someone tried to HELP that man and prevented him from killing himself today, he would have done it again until he got the job done! Those who do risk their lives for the tax payers of Cali, those same complaining tax payers have bad habits of suing those who try to help or in this case SAVE those who do not want saved. Hypocrites all of you who are complaining with disgust…quilty much?
What a classic argument for not doing anything: we haven’t done everything. It’s inappropriate to blame anyone, because we can’t blame everyone. Really, I am impressed; this master level rationalizing.
To point out poor societal conduct, one has to be exemplary, which rules out everyone, leaving it to people like you to excuse all conduct, no matter how bad, because there’s always an excuse. Meanwhile, you side with the callous: it’s the suicide’s fault, and he would have died anyway. You don’t even know what hypocrite means.
I was going to fix your typos, but I decided that you don’t deserve it.
I’d also like to add the (obvious) point that LW has no ground on which to judge the charitable contributions of any of the people commentating on this article; it’s a sad world we live in when someone can assume that everyone is an utter hypocrite (which I distinguish from being mildly hypocritical) with no supporting evidence.
Have you or anyone that responded to this tried to save a person’s life who isn’t interested in being saved? They are prone to un-predictable and unsafe behaviors. Compound that with the fact that he was in water and could very easily have injured or caused a potential civilian rescuer more harm than the rescuer could have provided him help, and it makes some sense that onlookers were hesitant to help the drowning man. It is impossible to help someone else if you yourself are in danger due to lack of training or an aggressive person. This is a tragedy, however the tragedy lies not only in the man’s untimely death, but also in why the water rescue training programs have been cut. Perhaps this will cause some unions to rethink entitlements that are causing them to go broke and sacrifice crucial training for those public servants who only want to help, yet are metaphorically handcuffed by policy and lack of training. If anyone reading or responding to this post has a solution to the this problem instead of just making idle commentary about how YOU THINK the first responders were inept, maybe you should post about that, or offer your training services at no cost to the city.
This week is National CPR week. I suggest to all of you out there who are complaining that no one responded, to go get your CPR cards re-newed. Oh wait, you don’t have one? Well then what are you gonna do when someone collapses in front of you at the airport, clasping their chest in pain? You too will turn into an idle bystander who is unable to respond due to lack of training.
Don’t blame the people who were there, seeing as you weren’t. You can’t know what you would have done if presented with the same situation.
Wait a minute, Ben. Even the fire chief didn’t argue that none of the professionals there knew HOW to rescue the guy, he said they couldn’t because of policy. Policy isn’t a physical restraint—as I clearly said—and it doesn’t remove prior knowledge. A man died, and the explanation was that POLICY prevented the rescue. But policy doesn’t “prevent” free will.
Some of your argument is similar to what I said about the bystanders complaining about the firefighters—he could have done something…but I couldn’t, because I wasn’t there. Are you seriously making the absurd case that only the 75 people present can be critical of the handling of the situation? How convenient for them! Self evaluation, a self-graded ethics test, with guaranteed grade inflation! Do you want to apply the same principle to, say, a politician taking a bribe? Heck, only he and the briber were there…who really knows what transpired? And unless all the critics certify and can prove that they wouldn’t have been similarly tempted, they shouldn’t register their objection to the conduct? Hmmm. I guess nobody can make ethical judgments about anyone’s conduct at all, because the presumption is that no matter how bad the conduct seems, we can’t KNOW we would have done better. Is that it?
A lazy, flabby, passive argument that guarantees that the public and society will never learn from its mistakes. People will go through every mental trick and rationalization to avoid accountability, which is why third parties are the best judges, not the worst.
I don’t know what I would have done. I do know what I wouldn’t have done—stand watching as nobody does anything until a man dies, and then tell TV reporters, “It was terrible; why didn’t those foremen do something?” If I were a fire official, I sure wouldn’t say, “My acclaimed and lauded heroes could have saved him but a policy stopped us.”
The people who were there, as well as the community and culture that sired them, ARE to blame, because they WERE there, and a man died. I have heard your warped justification for letting bad conduct pass without anyone saying it is bad in many, many forms in my career, and it is also part of the problem that helped let Mr. Zack die. I don’t know who or what got you to think this way, but if it were to prevail—and indeed, it’s gaining, being inherently facile—our collective efforts to forge a more ethical society would stop dead in its tracks, as we all became ethical teachers of just one student—ourselves—justifying our own acts with bias, rationalizations and non-ethical considerations as the culture rots around us and potential rescuers duck their human responsibilities in deference to “policy.”
Over my dead body.
“City budget cuts caused the fire department to discontinue water rescue training and stop maintaining wetsuits and other rescue gear” <<< this is WRONG. There were no budget cuts related to the water rescue. The City council did not even know about the lapse of water rescue capability. Neither did the city manager. It was an internal memo at the AFD because the IAFF local union members had let their water rescue training lapse; the inability to perform water rescue was supposed to last exactly 30 days. ADDITIONALLY: the AFD has a DUTY to respond and save the life. They have the duty to know which sister agencies have the correct capabilities, equipment and training, to help for which responses. The USCG does deep water rescue; their ships cannot do shallow water. The Alameda County FD is skilled AND has all the right equipment for shallow water rescue. The AFD did NOT request assistance from the ACFD. That was job to know what to do and how to engage mutual aid to effect a successful response. That they did not, is not only a failure, it is a criminal act.