Rescuer on Las Vegas respite can't escape 'night sweats'

Sept. 9

Shortly after New Orleans police officer Lawrence Celestine put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, paramedic Ronald Mason saw what a bullet to the brain can do.

He was called to the scene, but as so often happened during his rescue efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there was nothing he could do.

"I wake up in night sweats still seeing him," the 57-year-old Mason said as he sat inside the Boulder Station casino Thursday.

"It was hard to believe an officer would do that."

The suicides of Celestine and fellow officer Paul Accardo, coupled with dozens of officers turning in their badges as the situation in New Orleans became more desperate, convinced New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin that rest and recuperation, or R&R, was necessary if emergency personnel were to be effective over the long haul.

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http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Sep-09-Fri-2005/news/27178249.html

to save his own family and everyone was dead. Evidently, he felt responsible. So said the tele, anyway.