Bureaucratic Manslaughter or Tragic Accident

Should the Fish and Wildlife or the Police have tried to rescue? Should they regularly be staffed with divers? Should the police have had rescue training? Was this avoidable? Read the original here.

Boy Dies, Friends 'Disgusted' By Slow Response | NWCN.Com Washington - Oregon

by ERIC WILKINSON / KING 5 News
NWCN.com
Posted on May 9, 2011 at 4:30 PM
Updated Monday, May 9 at 5:11 PM

EVERETT, Wash. - Witnesses say 13-year-old Austin Anglin was trapped underneath his family's boat for about 40 agonizing minutes before Coast Guard crews pulled him out of the water. For at least some of that time boats from several agencies could do little more than sit and watch, frustrating his helpless loved ones.

"I looked over at the game warden's boat and there were four people standing there in life jackets on the edge of the boat as I was telling them there's a boy under the boat," said Tony Edwards. "They did absolutely nothing."

The two other agencies on the water, Tulalip Fire and Washington Fish & Wildlife did not have divers on board their boats.

The Everett Police Department's Marine Unit - including two divers – was on the scene, but they didn't go into the water because they did not have dive gear, nor rescue training.

Everett Police refused an on-camera interview but told us their marine unit is not a search and rescue team. It's a search and recovery unit. Also, on Saturday the team was working an "enforcement detail," meaning they were out to write tickets as boating season kicked off around Puget Sound.

"The only thing they have on those boats are ropes and ticket books," said Edwards, the boyfriend of Anglin's mother. "That is where the real tragedy comes in."

A 68-year-old man also died when the boat capsized after being swamped with water near Camano Island early Saturday morning. Three other people were rescued by Good Samaritans who risked their own lives to save strangers.

Tony Edwards considers those people heroes, but believes policies should change to keep tragedies like this one from happening again.

"Disgust is probably the only word I can come up with. If we can spend $350-400,000 on a boat, we should be able to equip that boat with proper dive gear and qualified divers,” he said.