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Texas State University police are a bunch of bags. This is not the 1st boneheaded incident I have heard involving them.
July 5, 2005, 11:02AM
Houston swimmer's rescuer ends up in jail
Associated Press
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.
Texas State University police are a bunch of bags. This is not the 1st boneheaded incident I have heard involving them.
http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/...7/5rescue.html
The Statesman has the police report (well, page 2) online.
Even though THAT media outlet already has it and acquired it through UPD, they apparently don't have it to give to me (filled out a FOIA when I got home and walked to the office, told me that it wasn't "on their desk" yet).
Thanks for the great link. I hope there's more to the story - that makes the authorities look like complete jackasses.
http://www.fark.com/10 bucks these a-hole cops get on the national news.................as national laughing stocks
Scroll down.
Kinda like that Ed episode where Ed pulls the guy out of a burning car, but is sued because he broke the dudes arm.
They made national news too...
Charges should be reduced to a warning.
I think these guys are used to ticketing drunks at the nude beach or something...
Those cops are in idiots lmao They better not be in with me when I go to Texas State because I won't take that . I've heard that there are a lot of rapes in San Marcos dealing with the Texas State cops or some .
Abed Duamni almost tempted death one too many times.
Even if charges are not dropped...if and when he gets in court...I can't see the judge doing nothing other than dropping all charges and dismissing this case...if not....what kind of message would this send...don't help someone in need...cause you could get in trouble...
this was ing re- -ul-less.
not to mention that if the charges do stick then Newman is in danger of losing his job since he is a pilot.
where any of those damn cops even in the water??? then what they did they think they were gonna do about it??
and with all tha water rushing by, and newman tired from SAVING A MANS LIFE, the expected him to hear and understand them clearly and get his ass out the water in 0.5 secounds.
cops are wads.
I think saving another's life gives you an automatic get out of ticket card.
What if they had to go in and save this idiot's life? Sounds like all parties involved aren't exactly innocent.
You got owned by the Austin American Spaceman, Johnny?
That's just not right...
I saw the story first posted on the Statesman around midnight Tuesday Tuesday morning and forwarded it to my news editor.You got owned by the Austin American Spaceman, Johnny?
That's just not right...
When I came into town yesterday, I wrote up the FOIA and took it to UPD. That's when they told me what they told me, but we already have complained to the university's attorney (he's a pretty nice guy and has helped us out when UPD has taken their sweet time on FOIA requests, so I expect it to be resolved soon).
Plus, during the summer, we only publish twice a month (and the next issue is a week from today).
I guess the good samaritan law has been revoked.
I was thinking the same thing...
Well here in south texas my father told me one day that he was in his UPS truck driving down the highway and a state trooper was trying to pull him over because of the one lane merger, claimed he did not read the cops warning when he instructed him to do so. Well, anyways my dad was still on the one lane and the cop was trying to make him pull over, of course he could not because of all the traffic, so when it went back to two lanes the policecar cut in front of him, halted all of the traffic and made my father pull over. My dad was trying to explain he did not want to cause an accident, but the stubborn trooper insisted he should have listened to him and harrassed him with a warning.
This is a press release from Texas State released minutes ago.
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Charges dropped in river rescue incident
Texas State University Police have dropped charges against Dave Newman after his arrest July 3 for interference with public duties at an emergency water rescue scene at Spring Lake Dam on the San Marcos River.
University President Denise Trauth and San Marcos Mayor Susan Narvaiz released the following joint statement:
Mr. Newman was arrested because of his refusal to comply first with pleas, then requests, and then orders to leave the river after his rescue of Mr. Duamni.
However, Mr. Newman did perform a heroic act, and we believe the proper course of action is to drop the charges.
We want to emphasize to the public that the area around the Spring Lake Dam can be dangerous. It claimed the life of a young man as recently as last April and it has been the site of six emergency water rescues since that time. We cannot overstate the importance of heeding the many warning signs posted in the area and using extreme caution when swimming there.
We also want to re-emphasize to the public the importance of following the directives of police and fire and rescue personnel when they are on the scene of an emergency.
We are forming a university-community committee immediately to explore steps we can take to make this swimming area safer for the public.
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