re: Haughton Police Officer Attempts Risky Rescue In Flood, Cruiser Floats Away

1 Idiot driver nearly got her family and her rescuer killed. Jesus should have given her some common sense.

2 Not to take anything away from this guy's bravery, but for a state with so much water, there's a shocking lack of water rescue capability and training among first responders. Yeah, there are a lot of boat crews and dive teams, but those take time to get to where they're needed. The front line guys don't know what to do and/or don't have the proper equipment if they're not immediately available. First rule of S&R is you can't save anyone if you become a casualty before you get to them.

There was an incident in my area where a game warden and a firefighter went out in a boat to get some stranded people. Boat overturned, they need rescuing. So a state trooper and a parish employee go out in a high clearance vehicle to get them and the original victims. It floods out, they need rescuing too. Finally, a National Guard helicopter arrives and hoists them all up. Two victims turn into six victims needing a high risk aerial rescue.

Again, props to them for trying, but they were clearly improvising, and shite like that gets people killed.