http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1231993/Fathers-agony-forced-choose-saving-wife-son-drowning.html

‘I just had to accept the fact that he had gone.
‘Instead of going down and risking my life as well as my wife and son’s, I chose to take Vanessa back and sat on the shore praying. It was all I could do.’
Silva’s friend and the family dog, who had also been in the car, had managed to scramble to safety by the time Mr Horton arrived at the scene, two minutes after the car had entered the Whanganui River, north of Wellington, New Zealand.

———————-
After Mr Horton had made his heartbreaking decision to drag his wife to safety, police and firefighters, summoned by passers-by, dived into the murky water to try to free Silva. However, by then, even reaching the vehicle proved impossible in the darkness.

‘We tried everything but to no avail,’ said senior fire officer Gary Wilson. ‘It was a long shot but it was worth the risk to try and save him.’
———————-

‘It’s just a freak accident. We can’t blame anyone. I’ve forgiven the kids who were wrecking our letterbox.’
‘I love those kids and I know how they will be feeling,’ said Mrs Horton. ‘I don’t hold them responsible.’

The couple said Silva’s funeral on Thursday would be a celebration of his life and they planned to release 13 balloons, one for each year they spent with him.

personally, i would not exit a burning building without all my spawn safely accounted for…same goes for a sinking car.

While that’s a noble sentiment, it’s also absolutely absurd. If a parent has a reasonable expectation of saving the child/children, that would be one thing. But to suggest you’d waste your life in a vain attempt to save someone you know you can’t possibly save? Well, I suppose if that’s how you want to spend it, that’s your choice.

it was a freak accident with a horrible ending. shit happens.

personally, i would not exit a burning building without all my spawn safely accounted for…same goes for a sinking car.

Am I the only one that noticed he did try to save the kid first, he couldn’t get to the car.

No. That’s why grousing about how he made some kind of deliberate choice to let the kid drown is absurd.

However, the father should have helped the person that his aid would most likely change that person’s prognosis from dying to living. No sense trying to help someone who would live (or die) anyways. Without seeing the situation firsthand, we can’t really tell who he could have helped more. So I’m not going to second guess his choice.

Rational thought aside, Damn! — The twit who risks two lives over a $30 mailbox lives, yet the kid who probably had no say about whether or not to pursue, he gets the big sleep.

I hate to judge, but this woman does not sound as if her priorities were focused on her kid. As others have mentioned, even letting him in the car if she was doing something as foolish as chasing punk vandals was pretty good indication of her lack of good sense.

Anyway, it is what it is. It was a horrible accident. I hope that this family can survive this tragedy, but somehow I doubt that is likely.