quote:
She says that Tuesday night while driving down Davis Road with her two children just south of the Haughton city limits, "the road gave way and the front end dropped down and started floating."

Stathem's SUV was shoved off the roadway by the rushing water from an overwhelmed Foxskin Bayou. And at the time, she had no idea the road had also been washed away, leaving the road buckled or with drop offs some 3 feet deep.

The SUV began floating away until it snagged on a barbed wire fence.

quote:
First on the scene, a Haughton police officer. Stathem says seeing those flashing blue lights was truly a blessing.

"When that Haughton police officer was coming down the road, that's what gave us the will power to give us the strength to keep holding on," adds Stathem.

However, moments later as the water quickly rose, the police SUV was pushed off the road by the waters. Stathem says the officer jumped out as his SUV floated away. He grabbed onto a tree just feet away.

"I just laid my head on the tree and said, thank you Jesus. Thank you".

Even though their help now needed help himself, she was just happy first responders knew they were clinging on to dear life.

"I don't care if he's stuck on a tree with us. But I knew he's there."

TL;DR: A on-duty Haughton PD officer attempted to rescue a woman and two children from flooding just outside of city limits. He arrived on scene but his police Tahoe was quickly swept off the road by the flooding and he was forced to let it float away and cling to a tree until Bossier firefighters finally retrieved them all by boat. Now he's facing disciplinary action.

Picture below is of his Haughton PD vehicle that was swept away.

This post was edited on 3/17/16 at 3:50 am

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Posted by Jim Rockford

Member since May 2011

98152 posts

Posted on 3/17/16 at 5:55 am to TigersSEC2010

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.

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Posted by okietiger13

From Sea to Shining Sea

Member since Jan 2007

10271 posts

Posted on 3/17/16 at 6:50 am to TigersSEC2010

quote:
Now he's facing disciplinary action.

He resigned a few days ago before the city council meeting. That should give you an idea that there's more of a background to this officer than those on social media were led to believe.

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