So let's throw this hypothetical situation out there. So your boating on Lake Sakakawea and your boat broke down and you're taking on a little water you call 911 and you tell them you're in trouble out there but your boat may not sink it's just definitely having some issues and you figure you might want to give them a heads up that there might be a problem. They then pass you off to the corp of Engineers since it's their Lake even though you told them that's not what they do. You call back not too much later telling them that the boats definitely starting to have some problems and you could really use some help! Then you have to call back again a couple hours later wondering where the hell they are telling them that the boats really in trouble now and your waiting on them. Sometime around this point the 911 operator decides that hey maybe somebody better get on this and finally dispatches the request on to the proper people instead of passing it back and forth with corp. Unfortunately by the time they arrive the boat is sunk and due to cold water temperature you're dead.... Gee I wonder if your family might not be thinking about a lawsuit do to their incompetence since if they would have acted the way they're trained to be there is an extremely high likelihood that you would still be alive. Sure you were the one that put yourself out there but they have a job to do and it is in fact their job and when they like anyone else F it up that bad there's going to be some legal consequences you can bank on it.
This analogy doesn't even make sense.....
It sounds like the situation was not handled as well as it could have been, but if the procedures were followed, there is no case here.
There is a ton of stuff that's not made clear and that I would venture to say most people here have no idea about.
Who was the correct agency to handle this? I am not really sure.
The fact that the National guard took 2 1/2 hours to get the bird in the air... Maybe it takes that long to mobilize a helicopter unexpectedly. Or maybe there was only one bird available and they had an issue that needed to be addressed before taking off.
My point is, procedures don't just go out the window because someone is hurt.....
maybe it could have been done quicker. But there's too many unknowns from that short little article. It all sounds ludacris to me.
It is a sad deal though.