Different River

”You can never step in the same river twice.” –Heraclitus

You’ve heard the cynical expression, “No good deed goes unpunished”? Well, here’s a literal fulfillment of that dictum: Dave Newman was arrested and jailed for saving the life of a drowning swimmer.

This is not an exaggeration, and there don’t seem to be any “mitigating” circumstances. One person jumped into a river to swim and got carried away by the current. Another person jumped into the river to save him. The rescuer was arrested for illegal swimming; the original swimmer was not. The original swimmer thanked the rescuer in the presence of the police; the police did not even note the rescue in their arrest report.

Here’s the full story:

July 5, 2005, 11:02AM

Houston swimmer’s rescuer ends up in jail

SAN MARCOS (AP) - A San Marcos man was arrested after rescuing a swimmer from the swirling waters near a restaurant on the San Marcos River over the weekend.

Police say Dave Newman, 48, disobeyed repeated orders by emergency personnel to leave the water. The police report does not mention Newman’s rescue of 35-year-old Abed Duamni of Houston on Sunday afternoon.

“I was amazed,” Newman said after getting out of Hays County Law Enforcement Center on $2,000 bail Monday morning. “I had a very uncomfortable night after saving that guy’s life. He thanked me for it in front of the police, and then they took me to jail.”

After being handcuffed and put in a Texas State University police squad car, Newman was taken to jail and charged with interfering with public duties.

Duamni, who said he did not see any signs warning swimmers of the dangerous currents, jumped into the water several times before the current caught him. He had just finished eating at the restaurant when he decided to go for a swim.

“I reached a point where I said, ‘I’m dead,’ ” Duamni, who was visiting San Marcos, said from his Houston home Monday night. “There’s was nothing I could do. I thought, ‘That’s it, I’m over, I’m gone.’”

After reaching Duamni, Newman said he swam with him under a waterfall and deposited him on the shore opposite the restaurant. He could hear law enforcement personnel telling him to come back to the shore by the restaurant.

According to the report, Newman smirked and seemed annoyed by officers’ requests. He stood in the water for about 15 seconds before swimming downstream, to avoid the turbulence from the waterfall, and across the river to the officers, the report said.

“When he came across the river, the officer stuck out his hand like he’s going to help him out of the water, and he put cuffs on him,” said the Rev. John Parnell, pastor of St. Augustine Old Roman Catholic Church in Fort Worth.

According to the police report and witness accounts, the crowd that had gathered to watch the rescue was upset when they saw the police arrest Newman.

Parnell and another man blocked the police officer’s path to the squad car while other members of the crowd yelled at the police, telling them Newman had saved Duamni’s life and should not be arrested.

University spokesman Mark Hendricks said he did not know whether Newman rescued Duamni. Hendricks said it was his understanding that Newman was uncooperative with authorities.

When Duamni got out of the water, he saw Newman in handcuffs and asked who he was. “I said, ‘What’s the deal,’ and the police said, ‘He got you out,’” Duamni said.

San Marcos resident Bob Ogletree said he understood why emergency personnel wanted to clear the water, but didn’t understand why Newman had to be arrested.

In 1999, Texas State University, which owns the dam and the land around it, erected a fence to prohibit access to that part of the river. Later that year, the City Council enacted a swimming ban on that portion of the river. But Newman led a successful campaign to get the fences around the swimming hole removed and the ban relaxed.

In April, 22-year-old Jason Lee Bonnin, and a Texas State University student, drowned after he and three other restaurant workers jumped from the eatery into the river.