An Unthinkable choice

Man Saves Drowning Wife, Loses Son,
Her Car Had Plunged Into River at Night


WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Nov. 29) -- As his wife floundered screaming for help in murky river water, a frantic New Zealand man was forced to abandon a bid to rescue his teenage son to save his partner from drowning, he said Monday.
Stacy Horton saved his wife, Vanessa, 35, as their son Silva, 13, drowned in the Whanganui River on North Island after her car plunged into the river late Saturday.

Horton said he arrived at the crash scene less than two minutes after the accident to hear his wife screaming in the darkness and to see his son's friend and the family dog scrambling up the bank. His son Silva was trapped inside the submerged station wagon.

He tried to dive down to the vehicle, which was nose down but with the tail lights burning more than 3 feet (1 meter) below the surface, he told the Dominion Post newspaper.

"I tried to get down and get him but I couldn't — it was just too deep. And Vanessa was going under," Horton told the newspaper.
"I made a call to pull my wife to safety. I looked back and I could see the tail lights but it was too far and I couldn't get him," he said.

"Instead of going down and risking my life as well as my wife and son's, I chose to take V(anessa) back and sat on the shore praying. It was all I could do," a distraught Horton said.
Police and fire officers also were unable to rescue the boy from inside the vehicle.

Mid-Central police spokeswoman Kim Perks said Monday it was a very tough call for Horton. "I would certainly not have wanted to be in his shoes."
Senior fire station officer Gary Wilson said the water was dark and murky and firefighters struggled in vain to reach the car.

"We tried everything but to no avail," Wilson said.
Divers recovered the boy's body on Sunday.


Link

http://news.aol.com/article/stacy-horton-abandons-son-to-save/789410?icid=main

but thats just me.

you would save the one, easiest to get too first, in this case his wife, then go back and try to save his son. Which he tried.

If police divers with proper equipment had problems, the father, in the dark in (probably) fast flowing water (it was a river) wouldn't have been able to accomplish much.

:(

I read somewhere that in situations like this, men tend to protect their partner, while women tend to protect their children.

The scenario was a staged experiment with various people sitting in a waiting-room type setting, and a gunman rushes in. The men leaned over to shield their (female) partners, while the women leaned over to shield their children. The premise supposedly had something to do with the natural instinct to protect future procreation, or something.

makes sense. Still what a horrible decision to be forced to make.

and the man protects the woman, isn't he also protecting the child?

but I think in these scenarios, they were "testing" the person seated in the middle. If the man was seated with his partner on one side, and his child on the other, he leaned to protect the partner. If the woman was seated with her partner on one side and her child on the other, she leaned to protect the child. It was a long time ago that I read about this...may be fuzzy on the details. :)