A Champaign, Illinois man drowned Jan. 1 in a mall pond as increasingly angry observers demanded a rescue, at least 13 minutes after the local fire department arrived at the scene.
The man, Kenneth Brown, 20, slipped under the freezing water 18 minutes after falling through the ice, but local firefighters didn’t launch an inflatable boat until just before he disappeared. The firefighters pulled Brown’s body out of the water roughly an hour after they arrived.
At least one passing resident recorded much of the event, including the moment when Brown went under the water.
Onlookers demanded firefighters rescue the man, and even volunteered for the task, but were told by the Champaign police to stay away.
The professionals’ caution contrasted with a rushed Dec. 30 rescue of a man who fell into ice near a sledding site in California. Numerous sledders rushed to the man’s aid, only to also fall through the thin ice. They all escaped the ice when inflatable sleds where thrown into the icy water.
A Champaign firefighter declined to comment on Brown’s slow-motion death, while 22 firefighters and six vehicles stood on the nearby shore.
“We can’t say anything about it,” the firefighter told The Daily Caller. “We’re directing all [responses] through campaign police department.”
The Champaign Police Department did not return TheDC’s calls.
Brown’s death has prompted complaints in the city about the inaction by police and firefighters.
“In this crisis situation, when a man was drowning, because of the potential danger to themselves they just stood there?” said one commentator, ‘cnneka1’, in the comments section of the website of the local newspaper, The News Gazette. “For 20 minutes? What are they getting paid for?”
“Myself and one other man got so angry watching the fire dept rescue teams ‘playing on the bank’ that we offered to be tied off and go in ourselves, and we certainly were threatened with arrest !,” claimed another user, named perryupopcorn.
“The only thing the police did was move the ever increasing angry crowd back when they started demanding the fire dept at least attempt to rescue the young man !,” perryupopcorn added in another comment.
It is unclear whether perrupopcorn actually witnessed the incident.
When pressed by the newspaper’s reporter, police and firefighters defended their inaction.
“They followed our ice rescue guidelines pretty much to a T,” Champaign Deputy Fire Chief Eric Mitchell told The News Gazette.
“They established command … they made visual contact and attempted to talk to him, threw rescue devices, and went on the water,” he said. “Going on the water is the last thing you want to do. They did all the other things first.”
“The way we’re trained, you have several different positions that have to be filled to do water rescue safely. … You have a leader and a victim observer [whose] job is to make contact visually with the victim and try to talk to him,” he told the newspaper.
Some commentators in the newspaper’s comments section, however, applauded the firefighters’ caution, noting that an unruly or frightened victim can endangered rescuers.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/04/illinois-firefighters-stand-idle-while-man-drowns/#ixzz2HIPSZVuT
Pretty hard to talk to a man who is freezing to death and should be saved. What were they saying, “…if you die we will charge you with suicide…”?
It would be a fair bet that if that was a city official or a family member of a rescue team person they would have been in the water to save that guy. Those guys should all be fired – them bunch of pussies. They should all get a job that they are capable of doing.
Yeah, give those cowardly firemen a job making Krispy Kream Donuts for the gutless cops. I smell a real big lawsuit just around the corner.
If a law suit is pursued and won. I strongly believe that the taxpayers should NOT pay for the award. The court ordered award must come out of the fire department and rescue retirement funds. The cowards must pay for their crime not the tax payer. In addition, second degree murder charges are well within possibility.
I bet they’ll jump in next time. What do you guys think?
Their inaction was a true act of cowardice. To add insult on injury they are hiding behind the skirt of procedure and the police department. Way to go guys. If I see one of your relatives or yourself about to drown I’ll wait until you or they go under and then I might call Rescue. The same goes for a fire. Weenie roast anyone?
There lack of response and effort causes me to wonder if they had something against the victim. Was he a gun rights activist? I understand gun rights activist are targeted for murder. Hmmm?
““They followed our ice rescue guidelines pretty much to a T,” Champaign Deputy Fire Chief Eric Mitchell told The News Gazette.
“They established command … they made visual contact and attempted to talk to him, threw rescue devices, and went on the water,” he said. “Going on the water is the last thing you want to do. They did all the other things first.”
“The way we’re trained, you have several different positions that have to be filled to do water rescue safely. … You have a leader and a victim observer [whose] job is to make contact visually with the victim and try to talk to him,” he told the newspaper.”
Well it looks like whoever setup up those “rules, regulations and guidelines” ought to be fired and a new set of HUMANE and MORAL guidelines need to be setup by someone with a moral backbone. The crowd of people who offered to go help have a higher moral backbone than these pathetic assholes. This is something you’d see the fireman and police do in China. Believe me, I have read and heard stories about these same exact scenarios in China while I was living there and the people offered to help, but the police and fireman just stood by and did nothing while the guy drowned. So sad. We have become Communist China.
is he buried with his internal organs?
The same thing happened in CA (Oakland I think) not too long ago. The excuse was they had not been trained or some lame BS like that. Seems like most firemen are just like useless, overpaid cops but in boots and unarmed.
These idiots are beyond useless. They’re criminal. I’d day they’re guilty of “depraved indifference” for standing around like morons and watching the guy drown. All they had to do was stand on the shore and throw him a rope while he was still above the surface and he’d be in a nice warm bed right now, but thanks to the heroism of the first responders we’re always hearing about, a 20 year-old man had to die for their gutless stupidity and criminal neglect of their duty.
Maybe he was related to the guy who (allegedly) shot those firemen in NY?
See you tube 17 year old boy risks life to save woman.
Ok the Firefighters were cowards and there is more they could do. However why was they adult in there? Stupid acts get people killed just like trying to ban assault rifles guns don’t kill people stupid people do. Give me a good reason why he was out there common sense.
Kelly, with all do respect you are way out of line. If one of the criteria to rescue a person is whether that person’s action was “stupid”or not is insane. Who decides what’s stupid? Now that kind of thinking is not too smart.
The fireman’s non-response was cowardly and as I said in an earlier post a law suit is well within reason. In addition, I suggested that the monetary award by the court/jury should be paid out of the all of the fireman’s retirement fund.
The taxpayer’s shouldn’t have to pay for their cowardice. When I was a kid I lived back in Ohio. We would play ice hockey on frozen ponds. Toward the end of the winter season the ice would begin to thin. I fell threw the ice chasing an errant puck that was headed for an area where I knew the ice was weak. I went too far and I was in freezing water before I knew it.
We always had a rope for such a possible event. My friend Robert tied the rope around his waste and crawled out on the ice and pointed his feet toward me and I grabbed his ankles and held on while the guys on shore pulled me and Robert to safety. Their wasn’t one of the kids over 12 years old.
There was no hesitation to “Rescue” me because I did a “Stupid” thing.
Years later I became a volunteer fireman. On several occasions we would put our lives on the line. We didn’t refuse to rescue someone just because they made a bad decision. Most fire rescues occur because of “stupid.”
There was one very scary house fire rescue that I recall quite well. The mother left the kids alone for a few minutes to get some milk down the street. A fire broke out and grew very rapidly. Most of the house was engulfed in flames. The mother was frantic when she returned! Her youngest was missing and presumed to still be inside. The fire chief saw a corridor of possible entry and ran into the burning house. He knew that the last location of the kids was upstairs. He ran to the only bedroom not engulfed in flames calling out the child’s name. Bobby heard a faint voice coming from the closet. He opened the door and there was the little girl. He grabbed her with no further delay, but Bobby and the girl were now boxed in, the fire was on three sides. With one arm he busted out the only bedroom window which caught our immediate attention. Bobby heard another cry he turned and a small boy was standing there crying. Bobby tossed the little girl to the fireman below and grabbed the boy and thinking to himself where in hell did this kid come from? By that time we had a ladder up to the window. The neighbors boy had shown up after the mother went for milk.
I realize the kids didn’t do “Stupid” but Bobby broke all of the rules to save not just the missing girls life, but a young boy’s life as well. Heroism is not just showing up for the fight. Heroism is going beyond the call of duty. Bobby was a true hero. There wasn’t a cowardly bone in any of the fireman I worked along side.
Bobby saw a window of opportunity and he broke the rules. He did what had to be done win, lose or draw.
Later that night all of us fireman took Bobby to the 10 Mile Stand Bar and Restaurant for a couple of Buds. We were sitting in the corner yucking it up when the father of the rescued kids, a yuppy liberal who had just returned from a business trip, walked up to us with tears running down his cheeks and said, “I love you redneck hillbillies, thank you. I thank all of you…” Things got real quiet. Then the Chief stood up and asked, “How about a Bud?” Eight years later the father of the rescued children died attempting to pull a woman from a burning pickup truck. Good day.