Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Loving the paint a little too much

If you are into sniffing paint, what do you think would be a good sign that your habit has gone just a bit too far? Well, how about refusing rescue from a flooded ditch because you are too busy huffin'? That might be a good sign.
San Antonio police arrested a 50-year-old man suspected of sniffing spray paint from a beer can while San Antonio Fire Department crews rescued him from a water-filled drainage ditch on the Northeast Side after Wednesday morning rains.

...

Fire department spokeswoman Melissa Sparks said the man originally refused assistance and wouldn't grab a life vest that crews offered. It took them more than 30 minutes to convince him to accept the vest and climb a ladder to reach street level, she said.

According to a police incident report, police and fire officials saw the man repeatedly sniff something from inside a can. Firefighters told police they had seen the man take a can of spray paint from his back pocket and spray it into the can, the report states.

The man told officers he had been walking in the ditch when it began to rain and didn't cooperate with firefighters at first because he was afraid of falling in the water.
(from the Express-News)

Yep. Repeatedly sniffing paint while the fire department is trying to rescue you and the police are looking on. That's another good sign your habit's gone too far.

2 comments:

beaker90 said...

If it took them 30 minutes to convince him that he needed rescuing, why were they there in the first place? Obviously, it wasn't that big of an emergency or that dangerous of flooding if 30 minutes later he still hadn't been washed away.

Albatross said...

Rachel, the rescue crews were there because that's their job. They go out to rescue people, and they can't leave a person in danger simply because he is uncooperative. And the length of time that passed doesn't mean that the man was in less danger. The flooding could have gotten worse 30 minutes later, especially if it had been raining the whole time.

Besides, the guy was obviously in an addled state and needed assistance, even if he didn't realize it. The firefighters were right to keep trying.