[ce] drowning in alameda

This story is about the time on Memorial Day when a man drowned off crown beach right here in Alameda. Raymond Zach, a 52 year old, walked farther and farther out into the water and police officers and firefighters watched. Eventually a passer went and pulled him out of the water. 

The claims, which were filed Thursday, come just two days after the Alameda City Council reviewed the death of the 52-year-old Raymond Zack and steps that police and firefighters are taking to address public criticism for how they responded to the emergency,[…]

I don’t really want to argue this point on who is right and what should happen, but it is an interesting discussion. The family filed claims on both the city and the county of Alameda. But the police and firefighters said that they weren’t trained to go out into the water, and that they thought it was dangerous. But we live on an island so shouldn’t at least someone be trained to be able to go out into the water. I mean we are surrounded by water aren’t we? 

I am pleased to know that firefighters went under training and are rescue swimmers now as well. They also have boats that can be used in shallow waters just in case a situation like this or a similar one does occur again. Also the police have acted upon this too, making changes on the problem that had occurred. 

I don’t know what would have happened if someone did act upon this situation, but at least they have tried to improve the system since it happened. I think they have proved themselves that the system is better for they did 4 water based rescues since. The family does have the right to be mad and file claims, but everyone has learned something from this and they have acted upon it. It is a shame that this event occurred and went down the way it did, but progress is being made.