Court nixes appeal from mother of suspect who fled, drowned

By RANDALL CHASE
Associated Press

DOVER, Del. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a judge’s ruling that police in a small southern Delaware town had no constitutional duty to rescue a teenager who drowned after he was handcuffed and tried to escape. The court on Monday rejected an appeal filed by Carol Johnson-Krumm. She’d sued the town of Seaford in 2016, arguing that her 19-year-old son died because the town failed to have water rescue policies and to provide water rescue training to police. A federal judge ruled in favor of Seaford officials last year, finding that the police had no constitutional duty to rescue Johnson because he wasn’t in their custody.