man put in jail after rescuing swimmer

[BJ_M]

from the "i guess that will teach him to make us look bad" dept.

Houston swimmer's rescuer ends up in jail

SAN MARCOS - A San Marcos man was arrested after rescuing a swimmer from the swirling waters near a restaurant on the San Marcos River over the weekend.

Police say Dave Newman, 48, disobeyed repeated orders by emergency personnel to leave the water. The police report does not mention Newman's rescue of 35-year-old Abed Duamni of Houston on Sunday afternoon.

"I was amazed," Newman said after getting out of Hays County Law Enforcement Center on $2,000 bail Monday morning. "I had a very uncomfortable night after saving that guy's life. He thanked me for it in front of the police, and then they took me to jail."

After being handcuffed and put in a Texas State University police squad car, Newman was taken to jail and charged with interfering with public duties.

Duamni, who said he did not see any signs warning swimmers of the dangerous currents, jumped into the water several times before the current caught him. He had just finished eating at the restaurant when he decided to go for a swim.

"I reached a point where I said, 'I'm dead,' " Duamni, who was visiting San Marcos, said from his Houston home Monday night. "There's was nothing I could do. I thought, 'That's it, I'm over, I'm gone.'"

After reaching Duamni, Newman said he swam with him under a waterfall and deposited him on the shore opposite the restaurant. He could hear law enforcement personnel telling him to come back to the shore by the restaurant.

According to the report, Newman smirked and seemed annoyed by officers' requests. He stood in the water for about 15 seconds before swimming downstream, to avoid the turbulence from the waterfall, and across the river to the officers, the report said.

"When he came across the river, the officer stuck out his hand like he's going to help him out of the water, and he put cuffs on him," said the Rev. John Parnell, pastor of St. Augustine Old Roman Catholic Church in Fort Worth.

According to the police report and witness accounts, the crowd that had gathered to watch the rescue was upset when they saw the police arrest Newman.

Parnell and another man blocked the police officer's path to the squad car while other members of the crowd yelled at the police, telling them Newman had saved Duamni's life and should not be arrested.

University spokesman Mark Hendricks said he did not know whether Newman rescued Duamni. Hendricks said it was his understanding that Newman was uncooperative with authorities.

When Duamni got out of the water, he saw Newman in handcuffs and asked who he was. "I said, 'What's the deal,' and the police said, 'He got you out,'" Duamni said.

San Marcos resident Bob Ogletree said he understood why emergency personnel wanted to clear the water, but didn't understand why Newman had to be arrested.

In 1999, Texas State University, which owns the dam and the land around it, erected a fence to prohibit access to that part of the river. Later that year, the City Council enacted a swimming ban on that portion of the river. But Newman led a successful campaign to get the fences around the swimming hole removed and the ban relaxed.

In April, 22-year-old Jason Lee Bonnin, and a Texas State University student, drowned after he and three other restaurant workers jumped from the eatery into the river.

[AlecWest]

"When he came across the river, the officer stuck out his hand like he's going to help him out of the water, and he put cuffs on him," said the Rev. John Parnell, pastor of St. Augustine Old Roman Catholic Church in Fort Worth.

With such a character witness, I anticipate either dropped charges ... or, at worst, a suspended sentence.

[ZAPPER]

I have helped a few people out of the water in my life and twice been treated poorly by the folks that should have been doing the work. Never been arrested though.

In Savanah I watched a group on a capsized catamaran fight it for a good long time to get it back upright. So I went out to help them get it back upright (the four of them 3 women and one man just didn't have the skill or "mass" shall we say to do the job) Anyhow I got out there, told everybody what to do and the boat came right over like it should. About this time one of the kids that worked at the boat rental place finally came out to save the day. I had just squared everybody away and they where exausted with none of them even wanting to sail it back, when the kid climbs onboard and tells me that being that I don't have a life jacket and wasn't part of the original crew that I would have to get off of the boat! So I bailed out. Not realizing that the shore had taken a turn inland that was about to add about another 500' or so to my swim back. This fat boy was not too happy when I got back to land.

The same trip at the same spot I went out to help a woman caught in the current. I swum out to her and calmed her and told her to not fight the current. Just swim towards the beach at a rate that she can and we will end up further down the beach. Well that same shoreline turn was comming up and she was dead tired. I pulled her a little towards shore and she pretty much made it on her own power. When I got on shore a lifegaurd from a hotel called me stupid for not taking a float with me! (I was already in the water playing when she first started calling for help) As I was walking back to the place that I started from a uniformed(either cop or conservation officer) said that it was not my place to try to rescue people and that I should leave it to the pros who are in better shape than me! I was livid! If I had any strenght left I would have opened fire on that idiot in his pretty and dry uniform and shown him what 300lbs of pissed off is all about. I am sick till this day that I didn't. I would have gladly done time to remove a few of his teeth.

Sorry, I'll chant my mantra now.

[Noahtuck]

After being handcuffed and put in a Texas State University police squad car, Newman was taken to jail and charged with interfering with public duties.

I look at them the same as i do security officers or whatever... wanna be rent a cops glorified citizens arrest

from the "i guess that will teach him to make us look bad" dept.

Their little macho ego's got bruised because he didn't jump at their little command & let the guy drown

[AlecWest]

After being handcuffed and put in a Texas State University police squad car, Newman was taken to jail and charged with interfering with public duties.

I look at them the same as i do security officers or whatever... wanna be rent a cops glorified citizens arrest

Nope, their legitimate police officers:

http://www.police.txstate.edu/about.htm#mission

[Shadowmistress]

This has witchunt written all over it.

In 1999, Texas State University, which owns the dam and the land around it, erected a fence to prohibit access to that part of the river. Later that year, the City Council enacted a swimming ban on that portion of the river. But Newman led a successful campaign to get the fences around the swimming hole removed and the ban relaxed.

The rescuer was the same guy who got the fences down. They're probably pissed at him that he made it so people can swim there in the first place.

Even so, if the guy is willing to save the people he's encouraged to swim there I don't see why they could arrest him.

[AlecWest]

I suspect you're right. Newman whipped the City Council in a fair fight to open the area ... and now the city is "getting even" with him. But, I suspect they merely wanted him hassled ... and that the charges will be dropped (especially since a Catholic Priest saw the whole thing and will undoubtedly be called as a witness). If they do prosecute him, however, I hope the guy he rescued sues the city for failure to provide adequate lifeguards (grin). He might not win but it would be a great quid-pro-quo to Newman's hassle.

[Noahtuck]

After being handcuffed and put in a Texas State University police squad car, Newman was taken to jail and charged with interfering with public duties.

I look at them the same as i do security officers or whatever... wanna be rent a cops glorified citizens arrest

Nope, their legitimate police officers:

http://www.police.txstate.edu/about.htm#mission

Well, last i knew around here at GVSU & other schools the on campus police were not actual police, they carried guns but they were not actual police but special security because when they would arrest people they would have to wait for the "REAL" police to come and take them to jail.
And i wonder if these so called "actual police" actually have any jurisdiction off the campus 8)

And from this.. pretty much say's it....

The mission of the University Police Department of Texas State University-San Marcos is to provide for the safety and security of the students, faculty, and staff of the University and to the general public while on or in any property or facility of the University.

And i know it say's alot more but im sure they only have any real jurisdiction on university property only. I'm sure they can arrest you, detain you, maybe even write you a ticket, on university property, but like here, when they leave the university property they have no real power, when they do arrest someone or detain them they have to turn them over to the "real" local, county, state or township police who then take them to the jail to be booked.

Either way, it is just stupid to take someone to jail for saving someone and ignoring the law and request's to get out of the water

That would be like arresting someone for walking on the grass even though there is a law and signs stating you have to stay off the grass while someone is being mugged in a park

I saved that woman from being mugged and raped!! well sir, we have to arrest you for breaking the law and walking on the grass

[BJ_M]

campus police in many large campuses have full police powers now, including arrest and including outside campus property in some cases ..

[Noahtuck]

campus police in many large campuses have full police powers now, including arrest and including outside campus property in some cases ..

I'll agree they prob. do have full police powers, on campus, but i doubt off campus as they are usually employed by the campus or university, not like county, state or township/city police.
Unless they are "real county, state or township/city police" moonlighting 8)

[AlecWest]

And i wonder if these so called "actual police" actually have any jurisdiction off the campus. 8)

Limited, if any. FWIW, I occasionally attend the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention. This year's is in Chicago in September. In 1996, I attended the convention in St. Paul, Minnesota where I met (and interviewed for a magazine) author M. D. Lake. Lake, besides being a mystery novelist, was (at the time) a professor at the University of Minnesota. He's the author of the Peggy O'Neill mystery series, O'Neill being a campus cop at the University of Minnesota.

I suppose their "authority" all depends on charters agreed upon by individual states and campuses. Campus cops at UofM have the same authority as any other cop ... as long as they remain within their agreed upon jurisdiction (which may extend to areas beyond campus property). It would be interesting to see the charter granted to TSU campus cops.

BTW, there's a little known Federal Agency called the F.P.S. (Federal Protective Service). They have the same authority of a U.S. Marshall to investigate crimes that occur on Federal property ... even if they have to leave Federal property to pursue their quarry.

P.S. Slightly off-topic but related to getting screwed for doing a good deed. A few years ago, a man died in Seaside, Oregon of a heart attack while walking on the beach. His wife called paramedics to the scene. He was already dead when they got there and they asked his wife if his driver's license indicated he wanted to be an organ donor. It did and so the paramedics called for a refrigerated ambulance to come, pick him up, and transport him to the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center (70 miles away).

A month later, the widow received a huge bill from the ambulance company for "special transport" services. She made such a fuss about it in the media that the company wrote off the charges ... but didn't change their policy. A radio commentator told listeners (warned them, actually) that listing yourself as an organ donor is considered "authorization" for special refrigerated transport services ... whether the receiving facility is local or hundreds of miles away ... and obligates your estate with the responsibility of paying the resulting charges ($$$).

Since hearing that radio show, I've removed the donor authorization from my own license and will never put it back until this is changed. I don't mind being a donor ... but I'll be damned if I'll stick my relatives with THAT kind of bill.

No good deed goes unpunished.
--- Claire Booth Luce

[tmaxwell2435]

Cool! That is right up the road from me.

[adam]

They interviewed this guy on the local news last night. (I live 30 mins away). He said they kept throwing him a rope and he thought it was meant for the other guy, so he kept brushing it away. When they told him to get out he told them to hold on so he could catch his breath. Then the arrested him.

It has nothing to do with him being somewhere he wasn't supposed to. The police acknowledge that he went in there to save him (though he admits he was swimming there all day.) But they say he didn't actually save the man and that he hindered the rescue attempts, and since he didn't cooperate he was arrested.

The guy claims he lost his job over this too but I don't see how. Just a little pie in the cops' faces, charges will be dropped and everyone will forget it.

[thevoelk]

I went to Towson Univeristy for my first bachelor's degree. We had a real Maryland Stae Police barracks basically right on campus (across the street actually). They were real cops, and they acted like typical State Police, only writing speeding and parking tickets and not solving real crime.

[AlecWest]

But they say he didn't actually save the man and that he hindered the rescue attempts, and since he didn't cooperate he was arrested.

Of course they would say that, hehe. Just out of curiosity, how many cops got "wet" in the "rescue attempts" Newman supposedly hindered? If this goes to trial, it'll be interesting to see what the "rescued man" has to say about that ... which is probably part of the reason why, as you say...

... charges will be dropped and everyone will forget it.

No sense in exposing their faces to any more egg than is necessary, hehe.

[lordsmurf]

said he did not see any signs warning swimmers of the dangerous currents

Bullshit. Been there many times. You cannot miss the signs, and they are in both Spanish and English. Parts of the areas have been fenced off in the past. The guy simply didn't look or didn't care.

Then again, San Marcos PD and university police are some crooked bastards. When I saw where this was, I was not even remotely surprised.

The dam is some sort of historic dam, so they have to "fix" it every few years because it's like 100+ years old or something.

FYI, campus police ARE state officers, at least in this state. They have jurisdiction in any COUNTY where the university owns property, and sometimes even where its students are amassed. At least that's what I've been told by the various campus police I've known through the years.

[hudsonf]

P.S. Slightly off-topic but related to getting screwed for doing a good deed. A few years ago, a man died in Seaside, Oregon of a heart attack while walking on the beach. His wife called paramedics to the scene. He was already dead when they got there and they asked his wife if his driver's license indicated he wanted to be an organ donor. It did and so the paramedics called for a refrigerated ambulance to come, pick him up, and transport him to the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center (70 miles away).

A month later, the widow received a huge bill from the ambulance company for "special transport" services. She made such a fuss about it in the media that the company wrote off the charges ... but didn't change their policy. A radio commentator told listeners (warned them, actually) that listing yourself as an organ donor is considered "authorization" for special refrigerated transport services ... whether the receiving facility is local or hundreds of miles away ... and obligates your estate with the responsibility of paying the resulting charges ($$$).

Thanks for the info. I was considering becoming a donor but not if it's going to cost my family.

[ZAPPER]

Don't let the cost deter you from donating. I am sure that someone somewhere will pick the cost up for you if you give yourself to others.

Signing the back of your lisence is not always enough. Discuss this with your family and doctors and lawyers. I just met a little boy that was born blind and has received an eye transplant. The eyes didn't quite fit his face but I am told that he will grow into them. While he looked a bit odd, it was a very heart warming thing to see him running around and playing with all of the other kids. Alot of folks are kind of "weirded out" about this, but I think that it is about the best thing that a person can do for his fellow man. I always kind of thought of the old folks in failing health getting transplants, and thought that if they didn't get one and died it was the natural order for the old to die. I never gave much thought to children getting the transplants until my wife became a pediatiic nurse and I started to meet her patients and their parents.

[AlecWest]

Don't let the cost deter you from donating. I am sure that someone somewhere will pick the cost up for you if you give yourself to others.

Unless death occurs at the designated "receiving facility," all organ donors must be transported by refrigerated vehicles. The widow's bill was in the five-figure range. In this scenario, the "someone somewhere" is always the estate ... unless laws mandate the "receiving facility" to pick up the tab. A wealthy person who happens to be the recipient of organs/tissue and wants to be nice may "choose" to pay the bill. But I don't think recipients of organs/tissue are held responsible for ambulance costs of the deceased.

My life insurance policy is only for $140,000. And, when I die, I want that money to go to my son ... not half to my son and half to an ambulance company. My son already knows my wish to be cremated without a funeral service (cheap) to avoid any undue expense. The money I leave him will clear any bills I may have accumulated and leave him with a nestegg he can use to go back to college ... or whatever else he wants to do.

Signing the back of your lisence is not always enough.

That may actually be true in some cases ... especially if a living will was drawn up after the donor mark is put on a license. Best to check all laws regarding this. One thing I do know (unless there's a law I'm unaware of) is that a body cannot be "parted out" without some kind of consent ... either from the person themselves or the next of kin.