More fire and EMS news from STATter911.com, including another must see video.
Warning! Warning! Warning! This video from Colorado has plenty to offend for those who are bothered by an F-bomb, or two, or twenty. That said, it is well worth watching.
Here is the description that goes with it. It comes from KKCO-TV in Grand Junction and reporter Aaron Luna:
After ignoring Mesa County Sheriffs Officers, a man tries to run into a freezing lake to save his dog and tonight he is behind bars.
A frantic owner called 911 at 3:00p.m. Saturday saying his dog fell through the ice near the Rivers More..ide trail at 32 1/2 Road and D Roads.
When Clifton and the Mesa County Sheriff”s Office got there, they found the dog in the water, and its owners very upset.
As they waited for the Grand Junction Fire Department’s Water Rescue Team, the pet’s owner, 42-year-old Theodore Wilson, cussed at officials on scene for not trying to save his dog and then made a mad dash for the water in an attempt to do it himself.
The Sheriff’s Officers tackled him sending all of them into the icy water.
As the man was led away in cuffs rescue crews arrived on scene.
Moments later the dog was rescued but not before it bit its rescuer on the hand.
Wilson is facing charges of failure to obey a lawful order and obstruction of police and fire operations.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
Maybe he was upset because the Dallas Cowboys lost.
*Warning Firefighter Humour*
Too bad the pond wasn't as shallow as the gene pool.
Damn Cowboys fans. I like how the kid was able to see the situation for what it was right away "You're life is worth more than the dogs." WOW!!!
Had that happen in PG County,that conversation he had with the police,would not have lasted that long,before being subdued.
When you choose to live in the middle of nowhere, you can't expect the same level of service as in the big city. You can't expect every little volunteer fire department to have in-house resources for specialized rescue.
We all know that minutes turn into hours, or seem to, when you are the one waiting for help at a scene – but I can't help but wonder why there were so many police officers there, plus a news crew, before any animal rescue showed up. Read a news item earlier this a.m. about a dog being attacked by bees in FL, when the owner called 911 the dispatcher said it 'wasn't an emergency' and would not send any help. Hmmm-maybe dispatchers need info on how important pets are to people? Just go back to Hurricane Katrina. Not condoning the actions of the people in this video, but I'd have been just as upset if it was one of my pets.
There were hugs at the end. That's all that matters.
I would taken that lady to jail too
Well unfortuneatly it goes like this, crs224akameema. By responding to an emergency such as "Fluffy got stung by a bee!" the responding units would not be available for "Grampa Joe has a heart attack!". So thus, Grampa Joe would die, and Fluffy would live, all because you hold your pet's (notice pet, animal, not human) lives over a humans (as in a mother, brother, sister, father…) life. Seriously, try thinking before you speak. Their is a reason that a pet emergency is NOT an emergency to 911. Sure, so what if they (or you) would be upset. That's what veterinarians are for.
Everybody in that family should go to jail for in-breeding….funny thing is its notthe first time they have been on TV, I also saw them on Jerry Springer
damn hicks didnt deserve the help of the fire dept
Too bad the cameras were there. They could have let him try to rescue the dog and we would have been less one more idiot in this world.
Bunch of White Trash, they let the dog fall through the ice then argue about the manner in which they save the dog? I hope that moron does jail time. Then again, he's appearently married to that earth hog woman so perhaps he's just sexually frustrated and snapped at that time…
Nice family. It's so nice to hear children who are allowed to cuss like sailors. I'm sure they're straight "A" students. Congrats to the parents for the fine job. Idiots!!
Rich H. I disagree with you. Our department policy IS to respond to dog rescues to prevent what nearly occurred in the video, namely the pet owner attempting to save their dog.
It then escalates from a dog rescue to a person rescue. By saving a dog we eliminate the rescue of a person, in essence we are saving them from themselves. You may not like the logic but there it is.
FYI I've gone into the water to rescue a dog that went through the ice. Fortunately the people were much nicer and not genetically challenged as those in this video.
Glad the doggie survived.
Everybody in that family should go to jail for in-breeding….funny thing is its notthe first time they have been on TV, I also saw them on Jerry Springer
damn hicks didnt deserve the help of the fire dept
Nice family. It's so nice to hear children who are allowed to cuss like sailors. I'm sure they're straight "A" students. Congrats to the parents for the fine job. Idiots!!
Too bad the cameras were there. They could have let him try to rescue the dog and we would have been less one more idiot in this world.
In my experience, you need to seriously consider rescuing animals because if you don't you will probably be rescuing the owner from the same situation in a short time. That's the reality of it. Bee's maybe not because unless its a really dumb dog it hopefully will run away from them. Dog through the ice, the pet will be there probably until it drowns or the owner jumps in.
Another example of PD not diffusing a situation. Watch it again and watch PD put their hands on the guy several times efore he breaks for the water. Put yourself in their situation and ask, "why do we send the cops to see if the FD is really needed?" Language is bad, but nothing that all of us have heard before. I especially like PD trying to keep the guy from talking to the news and then trying to block him from being filmed. LOSERS.
In the November issue of Fire Chief magazine, I published an article, "Pets in Peril" dealing with the need for First Responders to be trained and equipped to respond safely and effectively to domestic animal rescues on/through the ice. This video was comical, but the bottom line is there was an animal in distress. And, the Rescue personnel could have been seriously injured during the rescue.
Gerald M. Dworkin, Consultant
Aquatics Safety & Water Rescue
Lifesaving Resources
http://www.lifesaving.com
Sometimes stereotypes are true!!
Glad I'm not married to that trash- mouth skag!!
The reason for the delay of the rescue team is this is a specialized rescue. The rescue team may not come from the nearest station for responses like this. Police and the initial fire units are just the first responders controlling the scene and bringing in necessary resources. They all did their jobs.
About the conversation for pets aren't an emergency, isn't it a first come first serve basis? 911 is there to help the public.
A lot of good points have been made, and I totally agree that the dog needed to be rescued by the professionals. I hate to talk bad about the cops, being in law enforcement for over 26 years myself, but these guys were idiots! It was like pouring gasoline on a fire! They didn't do anything to diffuse the situation and only made matters worse. The family was bad, but I think the cops actions gave us another blemish on our image.
In an area like that where I'm sure water/ice rescues are quite common, I'm kind of shocked that the first due PD and FD units didn't have at least some sort of rudimentary ice rescue equipment. My department has a reservoir in our first due and we carry life preservers and throw bags on all of our units. We try to wait for the ATR team up the road, but we're prepared to handle a lot of stuff ourselves.
Also, LEA could have done a much better job at defusing the situation. At least they fixed their own mess. I've been on calls where LEA stirs the pot and then our job becomes a lot more difficult.
That being said, that family wasn't exactly a group of geniuses.
She could have wished them a Merry F'in Redneck Christmas before she left!
Preface: I don't condone the actions of the people in this video, they acted like jerks, right from letting their dogs run where there was a hazard-the open water and ice. Rich H, I don't know what the deal is where you are, but in many areas the people who respond to a dog (or any other animal) rescue are not the same ones who respond to a heart attack. Please note that I said 'animal rescue', not rescue squad or paramedics. In our neck of the woods that's two different operations. And perhaps I did not clarify enough about the dispatchers, no, a dog being stung by bees or in the ice may not be that area's definition of an 'emergency', but the dispatchers should have enough information to tell them where to find help, not just say 'not an emergency' and let it go at that. And, again, maybe it is different where you are, but veterinarians (in most cases I am aware of) are not equipped or trained to go out into the field to do animal rescue. Sorry, folks, don't mean to turn this into a big discussion, but I did think before I spoke, Rich. I've been involved in all aspects of this (fire, EMT, dispatcher, animal rescue) except the police work, and from what I saw on the video, there were a lot of those standing around not doing anything to help the situation. Many people count their pets as family, some people that's the only family they have. People died in New Orleans because they would not leave the pets they were not allowed to evacuate. People are devoted to their pets, and need just as much help when they are in peril as when a person is. Seriously, try thinking about that before you completely discount an animal emergency as not being an emergency, or completely discount another person's way of looking at something. Thank you to Anonymous, gods little monkey and Lifesaving Resource for understanding.
This scene is a must-see for all first responders. Good job to the first responders NOT going out on to the ice without the proper equipment/training, period. Also consider that we only saw a portion of the confrontation.
I cant believe how many assholes there are commenting on this forum. Does it make you feel better about yourself when you put down others. Yes the family acted very passionately and did not help the scene at all. The mother also should not have needed to walk back as thanking all of the personnel on scene should have been the first thing she did but seriously, what is the purpose of the stereotyping and bad talking about the family? I suggest you find another way to boost your ego because God knows we are no more special than they are.
Someone mentioned that they do not understand why there wasn't water rescue there as first responders. I'm not sure how big the FD is out there but I'm guessing (from the guy with jeans and a turnout coat on) that it's not very big. Our fire district has water as two of it's four borders but we don't have a water rescue team, we don't have the manpower or the training time. If we did have water rescue then someone else would complain that we didn't have trench rescue, or hazmat, etc. etc. I guess maybe we could give up some of the other specialties that we train on like extrication or search and rescue or EMS, etc.
One other item, I agree with the folks stating the FD and PD didn't do much to calm the situation. I'm sure there is some audio that I missed but I never heard much reassurance that they were contacting water rescue or that they were on the way. There is a lot you can do on scene to prepare for the incoming rescue unit that the public sees as "doing something".
Just my $.02
The most striking thing about the incident to me is the fact that a young kid is the one trying to calm down the adult. The kid may swear but the adults on the scene could stand to learn from him. The fact of the matter is that police officers are not chosen for their empathy. A little empathy could have possibly diffused the situation until the water recue boys arived. This could be a valuable training resource for police and fire.
Had that happened in Philly, with Philly cops, the whole family would have wound up in the drink and the dog would be sitting in front of a warm fire at one of the responding officer's homes.
Ah yes…another satisfied customer. See you next year!
Job security. 'Nuff said.
Well, now that the f***ing fire deparmtent finally f***ing showed up to rescue Fluffy, maybe we can make it back to the trailer park in time for a few Buds and the second half of WWE Raw.
They were about a Barney Fife looking pair of cops weren't they? Totally worthless them being there.
Officers could have done more the difuse the situation. HOWEVER – that family is an example of how NOT to be. I hate to use this – but they are the definition of WHITE TRASH, the husband deserves to go to jail and the wife should be with him. Yes there were hugs at the end – but their behavior was uncalled for. By the way…nice comment by the cameraman, hope he doesn't get in trouble for it.
White Trash. Should have thrown them in the lake and rescued the dog.
Newsflash, a dog is not high on the priority list.