Audio: 911 calls, radio & other communications from controversial Alameda drowning released. Listen to recordings & read timeline.
Read timeline
Previous coverage of this story here, here & here
The latest from Alameda, California and the drowning on May 30th of Raymond Zack where police officers and firefighters were ordered not to go into the water.
The tapes revealed a 1 hour, 15 minute effort by dispatchers to track down a boat to help rescue Zack, only to be turned down by nearby departments, including the Coast Guard, whose boat could not enter the shallow waters. A capable boat was finally found nearly an hour after the first call for help.
Throughout the incident, which began at 11:30 a.m., police and firefighters remained on the beach until a passer-by pulled Zack's body to shore at 12:30 p.m. Zack was pronounced dead a short time later at Alameda Hospital.
Officers remained on the beach because Zack was suicidal and potentially violent, police said. But they also said the 911 tapes help show their efforts to save Zack's life.
As those 9-1-1 calls came in, at least 10 Alameda firefighters and police officers watched from the shore. The first responders never went into the water because they say they were not trained to help with water rescues.
As they stood by, newly-released dispatch logs show how other rescue workers scrambled to respond.
The Coast Guard told a dispatcher it would take 40 minutes for its boat to arrive. The Alameda County Sheriff's Department said it didn't have a boat in the water.
