There was a tragedy and now everybody is looking for someone to blame/sue. They probably avoided going in for liability reasons.
Agreed.
Guaranteed, if there had been a failed rescue attempt (or better, a successful rescue that left the boy brain-damaged or otherwise permanently disabled) the scumbag lawyers would be knocking each other over for a piece of the action.
“...when the boat capsized after being swamped with water near Camano Island early Saturday morning. Three other people were rescued by Good Samaritans who risked their own lives to save strangers.”
A couple of things not discussed in the article:
“...Rescue crews received word about 7:15 a.m. Saturday that two waves swamped an 18-foot boat, throwing all five people aboard into the water.”
“...According to channel 7 Kiro tv last night the 13 yr old was wearing a floatation type of jacket. .....jacket may have prevented the youth from getting out from under the capsized boat.”
Saturday was the opening of boating season, a special fishery, and if I remember correctly there were small craft warnings out in parts of northern Puget Sound.
The wisdom of taking an 18-foot boat out in such conditions is questionable. Furthermore an 18-foot boat and five people plus gear may have been near its load limit depending on its design.
As tragic as the story is and as horrible as the loss of life is, there are a lot of factors that need to be weighted prior to assigning blame.
As someone who in my youth was a pool lifeguard, I can say that most training is focused on saving people in a way that does not endanger the rescuer. What is also not discussed are the wave/water conditions, whether the boat looked like it may have sunk should someone gotten under it, what kind of gear was dangling from the capsized boat, etc.
There are just too many variable to assign blame in my book. My hat is off to those who rescued the three. My prayers go to the family of those that died.