[mmce]

Why do his arms look like they are already stiff?

[invertigo]

Originally Posted by GoreisGreat ↗

Life jackets? How about learning how to swim or tread water... Kid doesn't look very young to me, he should've been able to at least doggy paddle his way out of there.

You're exactly the kind of person lifeguards dread; the pompous know-it-all who thinks they're an olympic swimmer.
Have you ever noticed that even though they have extensive training and swim for a living, lifeguards NEVER attempt a rescue without a flotation device? That's not a coincidence. Like Shakey said

"
Never try to save a drowning person without a flotation device. They will drag your ass under with them."

Most drowning people don't die because they don't know how swim, they die because they panic and forget how to swim.

[Pyramid_Head]

This is why I taught myself how to swim.

[Danny001415]

That is so nice

[Sebring]

Originally Posted by BrianBear5150 ↗

Something does not pass the smell test here! Scratching to hold on from going under, or scratching in an attempt to resurface as he was being held under?

Agreed! And if that's the stepfather, he doesn't appear to be too upset, but OTOH he could be in shock.

[GoreisGreat]

Originally Posted by invertigo ↗

You're exactly the kind of person lifeguards dread; the pompous know-it-all who thinks they're an olympic swimmer.
Have you ever noticed that even though they have extensive training and swim for a living, lifeguards NEVER attempt a rescue without a flotation device? That's not a coincidence. Like Shakey said
Most drowning people don't die because they don't know how swim, they die because they panic and forget how to swim.

I'm not putting the stepdad down for trying to save him.

But the kid forgetting how to swim? I doubt it. I'm a terrible swimmer but if my life depended on it, I guarantee i'm not drowning in calm water that close to the shore. There are 5 year olds who are pretty good swimmers. This is an embarrassing way to go out.

It is kind of strange that Rigor Mortis seems to have set in already with his arms defying gravity. I always thought it took several hours for bodies to stiffen.

[gatagato]

It may happen even to people used to swim, you never know what a panic attack can do to you: only pro swimmers, pro scuba divers, military special forces, sailors, or peeps used to swim everyday know how to avoid it, and NOT always: a friend of mine (a PRO scuba diver) once realising his friend was in very serious trouble with his diving regulator, had what he described like some paralysis, much more serious than just forgetting to swimm: when he told me the story he said "It was like someone had hit the 'reset' button of my brain". In state of panic, many people fail to see their "to do list" in order of priority: they just see a bunch o things they can do in random order, and often they do useless if not bad things: once i've seen with my eyes during a partial sinking, many members of the crew supposed to follow the procedure to rescue the passengers doing very strange things, one of them dived off the boat, anbother grabbed a fire estinguisher and did throw it inside a lifeboat already in water, which could have killed someone, another one did ran like hell screaming like a desperate apparently to try to kill herself, two of them were fighting using punches, headshots and maybe even karate moves. Without going too far, i'd say that 1/3rd of the crew were doing something either wrong, useless or dangerous. Not to mention what effect this did to the passengers, whose panic attacks were worsening minute by minute. And all this while it was OBVIOUS that the boat could still float for months if not years, and that the dried land was 5/600 feets away to say too much. The day after, the whole incident made a three rows news on local local newspapers. I just thought that not the best, but the ony thing i had to do was to sit and wait for a place on a lifeboat, smoking a cig every now and then, while watching an unedited funny/crazy movie: live, and for free. But of course in other circumstances i may be the first one who loses control. And someone else will lol at me. The brain is a big mystery. Unforeseeable events = unforeseeable reactions, no matter who you are, has his own Achilles' heel.
And there are two more problems, as if it wasn't complicated enough: in sweet water, the human body and objects in general float worse than in salt water, and as Shakey pointed out

Originally Posted by Shakey ↗

Never try to save a drowning person without a flotation device. They will drag your ass under with them.

the first thing you should be ready to do in case you have to try to rescue someone from drowning, is to punch him in the head hard at the first sign of panic, otherwise you may have to fight for your life, he/she will litterally try to kill you. That's not panic, he/she's just following the survival instinct that he/she's inherited at birth.

Or maybe the stepfather drowned him using the same techinque

[nofuckinway]

my vote's for murder. the step dad doesn't look too upset.

[Tiffany32]

Originally Posted by mmce ↗

Why do his arms look like they are already stiff?

Rigor mortis (Latin: rigor "stiffness", mortis "of death") is one of the recognizable signs of death, caused by chemical changes in the muscles after death, causing the limbs of the corpse to become stiff and difficult to move or manipulate. In humans, it commences after about three to four hours, reaches maximum stiffness after 12 hours, and gradually dissipates until approximately 48 to 60 hours after death.

[invertigo]

@ gatagato