Alameda, California, has immediately changed its policies after first responders watched a man drown in San Francisco Bay and did nothing to rescue him.
The man was apparently suicidal, CNN affiliate KTVU reported. After he entered the bay off Alameda Beach on Monday and stood in neck-deep water, then treaded water, police and firefighters who were called to the scene did not set foot in the bay.
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Local officials said that because of a lack of funding for shore-to-water rescue, firefighters had no one properly trained to go into the water, KTVU reported.
“It’s muddy out there. We don’t want them sinking. We don’t want them in distress,” Alameda Interim Police Chief Michael Noonan said in the KTVU report.
One local resident, addressing officials at a meeting about the incident, said, “It just strikes me as unbelievably callous that nobody there with any sort of training could strip off their gear and go and help this person.”
(Read more from cnn.com)