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We're learning more about a fatal car crash in Bradenton. Halloween night, two men drowned after their car careened into a retention pond behind Southeast high school.
Thursday night, paramedics explain why they wouldn't rescue one of the victims, even though they could hear him calling for help.
We sat down for quite a while tonight with Manatee County EMS to figure out what happened. And we learned more about what exactly paramedics are trained for. We also spoke to the father of one of the girls who was in the SUV when it crashed, trying to understand how she could leave her friend to die.
11:15 Wednesday night. Four people inside an SUV plowed through two fences, careening into a 15-foot deep retention pond.
25-year-old Johnnie Schoolfield was killed. His friend, 22-year-old Theodore Devon Thomas was struggling to stay afloat.
Caller: "They're inside the water?
"Yes, there's two more people in the water."
911: "Okay, listen to me. Is the car...is the car..."
Caller: "Yeah, yes. You can't see the car anymore ma'am."
911: "The car is sunk?"
Caller: "Yes. A man is drowning, ma'am."
Minutes later, paramedics arrived. But witnesses all said the same thing..."No one helped him. They just stared at him. They just put the light on his head but they didn't go in."
"He came up twice like this asking for help. Nobody jumped in the water."
Thomas drowned.
We asked Larry Leinhauser with the Manatee County's EMS how that was possible if paramedics had arrived. "It's a very common, emotional reaction you hear from a citizen. Like in a car crash. Aren't you guys going to do stuff? We are doing stuff, and we do it well. This is one area EMS is not trained to do."
Leinhauser says EMS workers do not have water rescue training. It's not a state or national standard. And it's simply not part of their curriculum. "They're more than capable of caring for him when he's brought to a safe area."
Leinhauser says a paramedic going in for Thomas would have been the same as if you went in...pitch black conditions...murky water. And he says a man who's drowning will always have enough strength to drown you both. "If I get killed on my way to help him, what have I accomplished? Nothing. Now we have two deaths instead of one."
Witnesses tell us they also saw something else. Two women, in the SUV when it crashed, swam out of the pond and took off. Troopers are still trying to figure out why. "I'm new to this. I don't know nothing about it."
We asked one of the girl's fathers what his reaction was to hearing thst she swam out of the water and took off? "That part I don't like. You know, if you're friends with someone you help. I guess she just panicked."
It's a crash that calls into question how paramedics are trained, the integrity of two women, and left two men dead.
__________________________________________________ __________
So, if you're drowning, you can always count on EMS to watch you through your last moments...
We're learning more about a fatal car crash in Bradenton. Halloween night, two men drowned after their car careened into a retention pond behind Southeast high school.
Thursday night, paramedics explain why they wouldn't rescue one of the victims, even though they could hear him calling for help.
We sat down for quite a while tonight with Manatee County EMS to figure out what happened. And we learned more about what exactly paramedics are trained for. We also spoke to the father of one of the girls who was in the SUV when it crashed, trying to understand how she could leave her friend to die.
11:15 Wednesday night. Four people inside an SUV plowed through two fences, careening into a 15-foot deep retention pond.
25-year-old Johnnie Schoolfield was killed. His friend, 22-year-old Theodore Devon Thomas was struggling to stay afloat.
Caller: "They're inside the water?
"Yes, there's two more people in the water."
911: "Okay, listen to me. Is the car...is the car..."
Caller: "Yeah, yes. You can't see the car anymore ma'am."
911: "The car is sunk?"
Caller: "Yes. A man is drowning, ma'am."
Minutes later, paramedics arrived. But witnesses all said the same thing..."No one helped him. They just stared at him. They just put the light on his head but they didn't go in."
"He came up twice like this asking for help. Nobody jumped in the water."
Thomas drowned.
We asked Larry Leinhauser with the Manatee County's EMS how that was possible if paramedics had arrived. "It's a very common, emotional reaction you hear from a citizen. Like in a car crash. Aren't you guys going to do stuff? We are doing stuff, and we do it well. This is one area EMS is not trained to do."
Leinhauser says EMS workers do not have water rescue training. It's not a state or national standard. And it's simply not part of their curriculum. "They're more than capable of caring for him when he's brought to a safe area."
Leinhauser says a paramedic going in for Thomas would have been the same as if you went in...pitch black conditions...murky water. And he says a man who's drowning will always have enough strength to drown you both. "If I get killed on my way to help him, what have I accomplished? Nothing. Now we have two deaths instead of one."
Witnesses tell us they also saw something else. Two women, in the SUV when it crashed, swam out of the pond and took off. Troopers are still trying to figure out why. "I'm new to this. I don't know nothing about it."
We asked one of the girl's fathers what his reaction was to hearing thst she swam out of the water and took off? "That part I don't like. You know, if you're friends with someone you help. I guess she just panicked."
It's a crash that calls into question how paramedics are trained, the integrity of two women, and left two men dead.
__________________________________________________ __________
So, if you're drowning, you can always count on EMS to watch you through your last moments...