July 25, 2008
Firefighter Mourned After Off-Duty Drowning in Lake Tahoe
The FDNY revealed a firefighter at Ladder 111 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn died while saving his 10-year-old son who from drowning on Monday. The Daily News says firefighter Martin Simmons was vacationing in Lake Tahoe with his family when his son "developed a leg cramp while swimming" in the 50-degree water. Simmons "had a hard time staying above water" and his death was ruled an accidental drowning. His body arrived at JFK Airport yesterday, and an FDNY honor guard escorted the body back to Long Island. Police arrested a man who was trying to speed past the procession; the driver claimed he was going to the funeral but didn't know who it was for when asked.
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Oh my goodness, this is unbelievably sad. That poor boy is never going to be the same again. Oh, so sad. :[
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It mentions it in the article, but it would be nice in this post to say that he actualy saved his son. "Trying to save" makes it sound like he failed, when in fact, he reached his son and held him above water before he himself died.
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Point taken, but the article says the his brother-in-law jumped in, and by the time a lifeguard got to them, the boy was unconscious and uncle was barely conscious.
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The Daily News story said that the father dove off a boat to save the kid. So one obvious question: couldn't someone have steered the boat over to where the kid, father and uncle were in the process of drowning and picked them all up??
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Well, JenChungsBra, since you're so full of ideas, why don't you go invent a time machine & tell them that yourself?
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A hero to the end. R.I.P.