Dark Waters...Police let Gene Beck drown in Manistee due to a turf war

Anne Stanton - May 12th, 2001

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Nearly 10 years ago, Eugene “Gene” Beck toppled into the wide Manistee River along with his friend Mark Sander. It’s sti unclear whether Beck, 28, a part-time roofer who had been drinking with his friends that night, jumped off the bridge or lost his balance and fell.

Beck floundered in the channel while Sander made it safely to the riverbank. A small crowd of people, including Gene’s own mother, watched the young man struggle, flail and scream for 10 minutes before sinking 26 feet to the bottom of the river. Volunteer rescue divers weren’t paged, but they heard on the police scanner that someone was drowning. They rushed to the river and arrived about 10 minutes after Gene Beck sank -- still time, according to medical experts, for rescue and revival. But city police officers on the scene ordered them to stand by. The divers’ feet never touched the water.
read more:http://www.northernexpress.com/michigan/article-1231-dark-waterspolice-let-gene-beck-drown-in-manistee-due-to-a-turf-war.html