Mother Of Drowned Boy: Firefighters 'Killed My Son'

**TXCharlie** · 06-28-07, 08:45 PM

Where was SHE when her son was playing in the rushing creek, or while the firefighters were trying to save him? Why didn't SHE just wade out to get him in those rapids?

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/13586912/detail.html
Video on web site

POSTED: 9:55 am CDT June 28, 2007
UPDATED: 1:29 pm CDT June 28, 2007

GARLAND, Texas -- A mother's grief has turned to anger after the drowning death of her teenage son.

William Griffin, 13, of Garland, was swept away Tuesday night during a rescue attempt on Duck Creek.

Emergency crews found Griffin clinging to a bridge support. They threw him a lifeline and then set up downstream to grab him.

"They are the ones that killed my son. They could have walked through that water and got my son and taken him to safety but they didn't do that," mother Tanya Griffin said.

"We were on scene fast and it's just the amount of water and as fast as it was moving," Garland Fire and Rescue spokesman Merril Balanciere said.

His mother said William did not know how to swim.

[not that it would have mattered, but why doesn't a 13-year-old know how to swim?]

**Illiy** · 06-28-07, 09:10 PM

Whadda jerk!

Take responsibility... he shouldn't have been out there...
why didn't she just walk out there and get him?

**TXCharlie** · 06-28-07, 09:13 PM

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...1.438b8d8.html
Relentless rains take toll

12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, June 28, 2007
By RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News
rabshire@dallasnews.com

After falling into the rushing waters of Duck Creek in Garland about 8 p.m. Tuesday, 13-year-old William Griffin clung to a support beneath the Miller Road bridge for several minutes.

It wasn't until the boy reached for a rope thrown by a member of an ambulance crew that he lost his grip, said his father, Guillermo Yat.

"The rescue men killed my boy," the grieving 51-year-old said Wednesday.

Mr. Yat, who had rushed to the scene after being alerted by one of his son's playmates, watched helplessly as the torrent carried his son away.

Though rescuers performed CPR after finding the boy a mile downstream, William was pronounced dead about 11:30 p.m. at Baylor Medical Center at Garland. Mr. Yat said one of the emergency workers should have secured himself with a rope and gone into the creek to save the boy.

Fire Department spokesman Merrill Balanciere said that he understood the family's grief but that the trained swift-water rescuers use prescribed safety procedures for the benefit of all involved.

"We're not going to put ourselves at risk by going into the water," Mr. Balanciere said. "We can't, because then we're in a situation where we have to rescue the rescuer."

He said the ambulance crew that threw William the rope was trying to help him secure himself in place while rescuers took up positions.

About 30 firefighters were deployed to the Briarwood Drive, Kingsley Road and Centerville Road bridges downstream from the Miller Road bridge, he said. They were preparing to rescue the boy if he was swept downstream, but apparently that happened moments too soon.

"He was swept away before they set up," Mr. Balanciere said. "We never saw him after the initial sighting."

A Garland police spokesman, Lt. Scot Bunch, said three officers – whom he identified only as D. Scicluna, N. Kubiak and C. Carter – jumped into the creek after William lost his grip on the bridge support, but they were almost swept away themselves and struggled to regain the bank. Authorities estimated the water may have been only 12 to 18 inches deep but was rushing at 15 to 20 mph.

Wesley Meyer, a retired firefighter who owns Rescue Training International in New Braunfels, Texas, and has trained swift-water rescue teams for more than 25 years, said he was hesitant to second-guess without having been at the scene, "but it sounds like they were doing things we teach."

Trying to secure the victim in place was a solid first step, he said. A rescue from shore, if possible, is always safer than going into the water. And deploying backups downstream is standard practice, for the safety of rescuers and victims.

"We teach rescuers not to go into the water as a first resort," Mr. Meyer said. "Half of all water-related fatalities every year are would-be rescuers – bystanders and professionals, too."

Another fire rescue official not connected to the incident, Lt. Kent Worley of the Fort Worth Fire Department, said he couldn't criticize the Garland teams.

"People don't realize the power of moving water. A foot of water, depending on the speed, can pick up a car," Lt. Worley said. "I think they were trying to get something to him quickly."

He said it would have taken time to get one firefighter tied off, the rope anchored securely and two more firefighters posted for the rescue itself. "At that point, every second counted," he said.

Garland's swift-water rescue teams used to train with another New Braunfels company, where Mr. Meyer worked before establishing his own outfit, and they still go to New Braunfels, with its swift-flowing Guadalupe River, every year for retraining with Garland's own swift-water experts. Mr. Balanciere said Garland's teams stay busy in rainy seasons and logged 30 calls in 2005.

Tanya Griffin, William's mother, said she didn't know what the boy had been doing when he fell in. She said that, like her husband, she went to the creek – calling 911 by cellphone along the way – after being alerted by William's playmate.

Also like her husband, she saw her son swept away.

William, a student at Houston Middle School, was the middle child in his family, which lives in the nearby Miller Glen apartments at Glenbrook Drive and Miller Road. In addition to his parents, he leaves behind two sisters, ages 12 and 14.

Funeral arrangements were pending.

**Star Man** · 06-28-07, 09:43 PM

Classic. Normally I understand that families are in a grief period after a death, but I can't help myself this time. They cast blame on several public servants that risk their own lives to save a 13 yo who can't swim but was in/near a raging river? Then they blame the Firemen/Police who could have died too? What about the responsibility of the kid who knew he could not swim, yet was in the area of this river?

It reminds me of hearing a woman at a bank recently that was telling the clerk behind the window how a police officer out west somewhere was responsible ("98 percent" in her words) for her 90 year old father driving into a rain swollen river. The Deputy was on the other side of the river with his patrol car lights going and standing in the rain waving his flashlight back and forth to indicate that it was closed. The woman then proceeded to say that the Deputy was negligent because he did not cross the river (remember it was rain swollen and closed) to tell the father to turn around! Then the woman said without witnesses at the scene the Deputy would have tried to cover it up and not report the car was swept down stream. Why didn't someone take his DL years ago (ie daughter that blames police for not stopping a 2 ton vehicle from across a raging river with only alien like mind powers).

FUHKIN DIRTBAGS!!!

I am so tired of this crap. People just aren't responsible for their own actions anymore. If I mess up who can I blame? Hey lets spill some hot coffee in my lap like a dumbass and sue McDonalds for giving me the hot cup of joe like I asked for but not putting an employee in my car to hold the damn cup for me............

**TXCharlie** · 06-29-07, 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by Star Man

The woman then proceeded to say that the Deputy was negligent because he did not cross the river (remember it was rain swollen and closed) to tell the father to turn around! Then the woman said without witnesses at the scene the Deputy would have tried to cover it up and not report the car was swept down stream. Why didn't someone take his DL years ago (ie daughter that blames police for not stopping a 2 ton vehicle from across a raging river with only alien like mind powers).

Exactly. We took my grandfathers car away from him because when we rode with him once, he scared the shit outa us. We didn't realize up to that point how bad he was. Turns out a couple of years later, he had alzheimer's.

**Dan334** · 06-29-07, 01:53 PM

Sadly, all too often becoming a typical response nowadays. The mass media has to accept some responsibility too...everyone is spoon fed a steady diet of "victimology" on a daily basis...it's always someone's fault or more precisely, someone else's fault.

**phantasm** · 06-29-07, 06:30 PM

So maybe FD should have done nothing, just let him stay there hanging on.

**TXCOP** · 06-30-07, 08:50 AM

I live just down the rain swollen creek from this dumbass. Now why is it that the mother and father didn't know where their precious child was? Could it be that mama was stuffing her fat face with Hostess snacks? Could it be that daddy was cooking up a batch of meth? Hmmm, let's all cash in when the FD looses someone. I was traumatized by the news report......gimme, gimme, gimme!

**Twan007** · 06-30-07, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by TXCharlie

"They are the ones that killed my son. They could have walked through that water and got my son and taken him to safety but they didn't do that," mother Tanya Griffin said.

didn't know they had Jesus working on the Fire and Rescue squad... what an effing moron...

Granted, I know the water was "only" a foot or so deep... still quite impressive at over 15 MPH... but you wanna know who had the best chance of getting him???

her fat ass... she probably has more mass than any of the rescue workers =/ and let's put the fact that even if she had lost footing... fat floats...

ok, that was mean... but damn people...

I think I need to start publishing my signature... Lack of planning on your part should not constitute an emergency on mine... or at least should not give you the reason to bitch when I bust my ass because of your stupid decisions...

sometimes I hate people

to answer that poll earlier, I want to change my answer to "don't have an effing clue"

/rant off

**TXCharlie** · 06-30-07, 10:04 AM

Unless I'm mistaken, I think they said the creek was swolen, and if it was like ours around here after those rains, it had to be many times more than a foot deep and moving very fast... We had flooding where we've never had flooding before.

I think he was probably just using that as an example of how little swift water it takes to move a car, much less how little it takes to knock a person off their feet and sweep them down the creek.

**phoenixrose** · 06-30-07, 11:10 AM

IMHO, we have more and more people these days looking to blame everyone but themselves, for their shortcomings and problems. This, to me, is a classic case of...If I blame someone else, I don't have to assume any responsibility.

Many factors went into this boy being where he was, and winding up in the water. The fact that people risked their own lives to try and save him...is conveniently overlooked.

Maybe the family is looking to file a lawsuit and profit from their son's untilmely death.

**Twan007** · 06-30-07, 12:14 PM

Originally Posted by TXCharlie

A Garland police spokesman, Lt. Scot Bunch, said three officers – whom he identified only as D. Scicluna, N. Kubiak and C. Carter – jumped into the creek after William lost his grip on the bridge support, but they were almost swept away themselves and struggled to regain the bank. Authorities estimated the water may have been only 12 to 18 inches deep but was rushing at 15 to 20 mph.

that's where I got a foot from