city still reeling from incident where firefighters & police watch a man drown for an hour

[Liberal_in_LA]

They are agonizing about the apparent suicide of a 52-year-old man in the water just off the town's beach while dozens of swimmers, police officers and firefighters watched for an hour.

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"It's shocking, shocking," said Kate Pryor, owner of Tucker's Ice Cream, a 70-year-old business that helps set the old-time vibe of the main drag, Park Street. "This is the town where the community gets involved. Where we care about each other.

"What happened that day made no sense at all."

"Amen to that," said one woman waiting in the long line as Pryor and her staff dished up scoops one sunny afternoon last week.

"Not in this town," said another.

"This thing has already done its damage to our hearts and our reputation, and what we have to do now is keep complaining to City Hall and vigilantly make sure this doesn't happen again," Pryor said, holding up her scooper.

"Yes!" the dozen people nearest to her in line murmured in unison.

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As he stood neck deep in the 54-degree water, slowly dying, a kite boarder paddled out to him. He told witnesses Zack told him he wanted to pray. After more than an hour, a young woman swam out and retrieved his motionless body.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/12/MNEE1JS9O9.DTL#ixzz1PB8ObdUY