AZ Police Officers Allegedly Refuse to Save Drowning Man

Sean Bickings, a 34-year-old man experiencing homelessness, was left to drown after calling out to police officers to save him

(warning: distressing themes)

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[TonyMelotik]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Cops did nothing wrong in my opinion.

[boggyman]

Saving someone from drowning without a floatation device or training will result in the death of the rescuer. The person who is drowning will panic and push the rescuer underwater to breathe. Sad but it's the reality.

[yorgenibnstrangle]

Imagine not being able to swim and jumping into water. Then blaming cops for not diving in to save you. The cop did nothing wrong. They wear like 40 pounds worth of equipment. They can't just jump into water.

[captdestroyer]

cops did nothing wrong here .they are not equipped for water rescues and are wearing to much equipment. This comes down to a personal choice of the officer if he wishes to risk his own life attempting a rescue

[olliemck]

very tragic, but my son was a lifeguard and in order to work open water he had to tow 250 lbs for 1 mile; it is not a piece of cake, and can be dangerous even if trained. drowning people will struggle with you and endanger both of you. those officers are not trained or equipped. just tragic.

[maxoblivion]

Why should the officers risk their lives to save a suicide? Unless they're strong swimmers and trained to save struggling swimmers, the officers will drown too. The homeless man should have been saved by society before he swam into the water.

[somebody]

The guy chose to jump in the water and swim away…how is this coming back on the police? They don’t have life vests or rescue training in the water.

[xsithspawnx]

Bad cops or poorly trained cops need to be called out, but I'm pretty sure these cops aren't either. They aren't trained as life guards and trying to jump into a lake with equipment and full uniforms on top of that is just likely to endanger their lives without being of much actual help. It's tragic that this guy died, but from everything I've seen it was a result of his own decision making sadly.

[junbun]

Just like the video said, majority of cops aren't trained for water rescue. They called for a boat. There was a story recently where a whole family drowned because one fell in a body of water and other family members that don't have swimming experience jumped to help and drowned themselves. I think it was like eight family members died. It was that man's own fault. Stupid games, stupid prizes.

[bostongirl]

The police officers did absolutely nothing wrong!!!

[christopherblackwell]

Could they have called for help? If they were not trained to jump in themselves? And why is it that so many are quick to say” they did everything right” this world is becoming cold
And calloused. They should have called for help..

[nancysmith]

I feel sad for the man who drowned but the police officers told him not to do it. He should have listened we don't blame a fireman for not going in a building that is engulfed in flames. I'm just sayin.

[loricrane]

They did not do anything wrong. Not everyone can swim. He went in on his own free will. Didn't seem like anything was wrong with him.

[zmiller]

He did it to himself. Quit removing responsibility from the idiots commiting the act and putting it on those not willing to drown with him.

[BWalker]

What are the police actually supposed to do here?
He climbed over and they told him not to go in, they watched as he just swam away.
He wasn't struggling then, if the cops tazed him and dragged him back over that fence they would've called it police brutality.
He swam all that way then realized what a bad decision it was and it was too late. Those officers are carrying a lot, and that was a big guy in the water. He would've fought and kicked even if they tried to save him.
All you can really do is call for someone better equipped. Sad for that guy, but he really did that to himself

[CrixPR]

Honestly that man just played stupid games, and won a stupid prize. Anyone blaming the officer has no idea how hard it is to carry a drowning person to safety WITHOUT a floater.

[marioncobretti]

Cops did the right thing. Unknown water and conditions, they all could of died trying to save him. Dude jumped in willingly, dem the brakes.

[lees]

Maybe the cops couldn't swim either? Bruh jumped in on his own accord. Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

[JD_]

At first i was triggered, i guess thats whats you wanted. Then i watched the video. The guy did it of his own free will, it was completely unsafe, and he swam so far that it definitely would have risked the life of an officer who would go after him.

[desimo]

Someone who is drowning can pull you down with them. This guy willingly put himself in this situation. The officers did nothing wrong here.