Fisherman charged after saving his friends

[seabast]

The other side of the story could be, they put their own life in danger by going on thin ice (and cops don't like us been on the ice this year) and he endangered other people life by driving drunk. Some innocent life could have been lost, sort to speak.

[fishermccann]

Unbelievable. While he did break the law, hopefully someone will have enough common sense to see that there were grievous extending circumstances that forced him to drive. As it was reported, he was a passenger up til that time. It could also be a case where the police issue charges based on their initial findings and leave it to the crown and the courts to decide whether to proceed.

I agree, the cops job is to charge people who do wrong, not be judge and jury, that is the job of the courts. I think most people would make that same decision, my licence, or the life of a friend, is an easy one for me to make, and dam the consequences. Should he lose both his friend and his licence, is for a trial to decide, not a cop. I do hope they have mercy upon him.

[Woodsman]

Poor decision by the cops.
The excuse "just doing their job" (also known as the Nuremburg defense), likely means that they weren't doing their job if it involves thinking and decision making.

Not even a close comparison of examples.
In one case a group was involved in participating in acts of mass murder and claiming they were ordered to do so & in this case of these police officers, they were acting fully within the law.

[trimmer21]

It would be interesting to know what the driver's BAL was when the cops got him to the station breathalyzer operator. After all that time,exertion and hypothermia,if his BAL was still over the limit enough to lay impaired charges,it must have been very,very high to begin with and if it was that high,how was it that he managed to have the wherewithall to rescue his friends and get them to shore? He would have been too pissed. We're obviously not getting the entire story,here.

[Bushmoose]

Unfortunately, the police all to often just fall back on the "let the courts handle it" premise. Common sense doesn't enter their mindset.

[ldub]

Unfortunately, the police all to often just fall back on the "let the courts handle it" premise. Common sense doesn't enter their mindset.

I hear that, it's like most jobs if you can pass it along you do it. Another thing to consider is the fact that this situation would get a lot of attention due to the fact there was a death, and the officers would have the mindset to do everything by the book and keep themselves out of trouble. Can't see their superiors having a problem with them charging somebody, anybody that was driving impaired regardless of the apparent situation.

[JMatthews]

That's the problem with these articles...never the 'whole ' story and most times not very accurate. Which leaves the arm chair commenters making a lot of assumptions.

There are just too many unknowns and the reporter will write down what they want to say, not necessarily what happened. I find it odd that in the list of things they would do differently, they didn't add not drinking, as this may have contributed to the problem and certainly looks like it was responsible for the charges laid. A tragedy for sure but it would be interesting to find out the whole story.

[someJoe]

Very tragic event, dont let the dui overshadow the loss of life. Its jack in the big picture. That being said, I hope buddy gets some proper recognition for his actions. He saved lives, charge or no charge.

[ldub]

Very tragic event, dont let the dui overshadow the loss of life. Its jack in the big picture. That being said, I hope buddy gets some proper recognition for his actions. He saved lives, charge or no charge.

Ain't that the truth kinda the unfairness of the world. It's rarely the things you do right that get attention. You can do a 1000 things right and 1 thing wrong and that's what ya hear about.

[DGM999]

This will likely get tossed when court date comes up