Something's missing here. What was the motive? No one would do something so heinous without a reason, either misguided or malicious. The story itself represents less than competent reporting. Rick *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
|Something's missing here. What was the motive? No one would do something so |heinous without a reason, either misguided or malicious. The story itself |represents less than competent reporting. The little girl and a sibling went swimming from a boat. A "current" took them away from the boat. The step father went after one child and the "friend" went after the little girl. He swallowed some water and was a afraid he was going to drown. He somehow found time while he was "drowning" to take off the little girls PFD so he could use it to save himself. Motive? The man wanted the little girls PFD so he would not drown. He took it from her when he got a little water in his mouth after he tried to "rescue" the little girl. He lived and she drowned. She would very likely have survived if he had left her alone much less taking off her PFD. He should have been put in prison for life, if not worse, instead he was convicted on a manslaughter charge. That is a crime in itself. I hate to bring you bad tidings, but the world is FULL of misguided and malicious acts. They happen every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day. They just don't make the news that often and when these events do make the news the full impact is not appreciated. Later.... Dan McCarty *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Grill dies when PFD removed. Is it not just as likely that the person attempting the rescue thought, by putting on the PFD, he could save the girl and himself? The girl could not save both of them, could she? Had he intended to let her die, it would have been murder. Manslaughter is criminal negligence. Still a homicide, but far from murder. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> Is it not just as likely that the person attempting the rescue thought, by > putting on the PFD, he could save the girl and himself? The girl could not > save both of them, could she? Had he intended to let her die, it would have > been murder. Manslaughter is criminal negligence. Still a homicide, but > far from murder. Well, if you ask me, and I've worked on quite a few murder cases, it would be a pretty good example of criminal negligence to remove a child's PFD and then somehow allow the child to drown. Regardless of the rationale. And BTW, manslaughter is not necessarily always criminal negligence. It can be "with intent to cause harm, causing death," or, in some jurisdictions, "with reckless disregard, causing death." There are often degrees of manslaughter. The exact definitions of these terms vary from state to state. Of course, you hate to see a man go to prison for something like this, where no doubt the whole thing started with good intentions. If I was the DA, I'm not sure whether I would prosecute or not. But it sure is, from what I understand, a classic example of someone causing the death of another through, at the very least, a serious error in judgment. Very sad, really. One life lost, others destroyed. No good comes of it. Mark *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Thu, 12 Oct 2000 18:36:27 -0600 "John and Donna Looze" <looze_at_gemstate.net> writes: > Grill dies when PFD removed. > Why make such a big fuss about a barbecue? *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
| And, is there a connection to water sports or kayaking (no response necessary). Thanks, Richard Sorry Richard but you get a response! 8-) There most certainly is a connection to kayaking. Just last week we were having the discussion of saving drowning victims. Some of the posters were verbably beaten up for stating common emergency service rules such as "do no harm" and "dont become another victim" while trying to save a drowning person. This man who killed the girl, violated both those rules. I've been following the story when it first hit the news wires. One fo the items that came out in the trial, that I have not seen in the latest new reports, is that the little girl yelled at the man to stop taking off her PFD because she would die. Well he took the PFD and so died. I would like to know if he had been drinking but I have not seen anything on that subject. The little girls death shows what a panic stricken person will do. Later.... Dan McCarty *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Mark; I agree with all you say. My point was only that it may not be as heinous a crime as what some people might think when they read: "Girl drowns when man takes her life jacket." As also pointed out, by another writer, it could make a difference in our thinking when we need to decide if, and how we will attempt a rescue. No easy answer, and having your lawyer there to advise won't help. It is 12 jurors, months later that will decide if your actions were appropriate. John a/k/a Ancient Mariner PS. Obviously, my last reference to "Grill" was not well done. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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