No matter what career path you’ve chosen in life, the one thing we all should come to work prepared with is common human decency.
Unfortunately, a few Arizona police officers must’ve missed that memo after a homeless man who begged them for help as he drowned ended up dying because the cops simply wanted to follow protocol.
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NBC News reports that 34-year-old Sean Bickings literally pleaded for help from authorities as he cried, “I’m going to drown” in the May 28 incident at Tempe Town Lake. Officers can be heard making the startling decision not to help in a 12-minute body camera video released by AZ officials yesterday. “OK, I’m not jumping in after you,” one cop can be said in the transcript released alongside the video as Bickings repeatedly requests their help.
Take a look below at how the situation has been proceeding, via NBC News:
“Three responding officers, who have not been identified, have been placed on routine administrative paid leave, city officials said. The Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Scottsdale Police Department will ‘examine the Tempe Police response to the drowning,’ the city said.
Representatives with the Tempe Officers Association, the city’s police union, said Monday that its ‘grief mirrors our community’s grief,’ adding, ‘No one wanted this incident to end as it did.’
The union’s statement added that city police officers do not get training in water rescues and do not have equipment to help people who are drowning.
‘Attempting such a high-risk rescue could easily result in the death of the person in the water and the officer, who could be pulled down by a struggling adult,’ the group said. ‘Officers are trained to call the Fire Department … or get the Tempe Police boat. That is what officers did here.'”
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The actual details in the case make it a bit tricker to determine if the officers were in the right or wrong, especially given the fact that it was Bickings himself who jumped in the water and began swimming even after the officers told him no swimming was allowed. Still, going back to our point of human decency, it would’ve taken nothing to risk a damp uniform to at least try and help a fellow man.
Let us know your thoughts on this after watching the video below: did the cops do the right thing by following protocol, or did they lose touch with humanity in this case? Sound off!
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