Police, firefighters watch as man drowns

 Alamedia, California - Alameda police and firefighters stood by and watched as a man drowned off Crown Beach. Alameda police received a call from a woman saying her son wanted to kill himself. Raymond Zack, 53, then walked out into the water off Crown Beach. “I thought it was kind of weird that they weren’t going out to bring the guy in, you know, he was out there, his head was above water, he was looking at everybody, there was plenty of time for them to react,” witness Perry Smith said. For more than an hour, Zack stood up to his neck in the frigid surf. “We’re not trained to go into the water, obviously the type of gear that we have on, we don’t have the type of equipment that you would use to go into the water,” Alameda Police Lt. Joe McNiff said. The Alameda Fire Department says budget constraints are preventing it from recertifying its firefighters in land-based water rescues. Without it, the city would be open to liability. More