Who induced panic?
I just read Dennis Hetzel's post below and the story that goes with it, and I agree it looks to me like the swimmer got charged because the police were irked at being called on to deal with his stupidity.
But if they really just had to charge somebody, I'd nominate his goofy friends who dared him to do it and then stood by while other people got worried.
posted by David Wells at 5:45 PM
5 Comments:
at 11:40 AM, April 22, 2008 
Anonymous said...
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at 1:10 PM, April 22, 2008 
David Wells said...
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at 7:36 PM, April 22, 2008 
Anonymous said...
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at 3:17 PM, April 23, 2008 
Anonymous said...
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at 5:29 PM, April 23, 2008 
David Wells said...
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Post a Comment*Not that living in Ohio, especially Cincinnati, is anything to brag about but didn't the story indicate the 'criminal' departed from Kentucky. I think that about says it all.
11:40 anon, just to keep things straight, according to the story the swimmer started on the Ohio side and swam to Ky. Looks like you may need to adjust your bias.
heh heh heh ;)
Next thing you know, we'll be arrested for other panic-inducing events such as stopping for pedestrians in the crosswalk...
Inducing panic is often used as a response to police doing their jobs - aiding and helping citizens who - in most cases - exercise poor judgment and no criminal intent or foresight of the response that comes.
Sadly, when someone suffering from a severe episode of acute depression and threatens suicide - often, they too, are charged with inducing panic if the police are apart of the rescure effort.
The result is - someone in jail not getting help, and with the added stressor of a criminal charge, conviction and record to remind them of their desperation for the rest of their life.
In response to 3:17 anon's comment: While it's true that police may sometimes file inducing panic charges when annoyed at stupidities, such as the river swimmer, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt on the attempted suicides. Your point that a depressed/suicidal person ends up in jail instead of treatment is not necessarily so. By making the arrest on a panic charge, the police may in fact ensure the person will get a mental evaluation once in jail. In fact that may be the only way the cop on the scene can make sure the person does get seen by a doctor. Whether such an evaluation is sufficient is another question, but it beats leaving the person alone and just hoping he/she doesn't try again as soon as the police leave.
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