Dive team rescues dad, 3-year-old son from flooded river (North Platte, Nebraska)

Dad MICHAEL GROOMS could be facing child abuse charges after he and his 3-year-old son had to be rescued from a rafting trip undertaken on the North Platte River during flood stage. At minimum, this is piss poor judgement on the father's part.

INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT: Notice that there is no mention of the little boy's mother at all. Just Daddy's girlfriend. Are we to assume that this little river adventure took place during Daddy's visitation time or what? Of course, there is no explanation.

http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=18965&pageID=3

Dive team rescues father, son from the North Platte River
by Frank Graham (North Platte Bulletin) - 6/16/2010

The North Platte Dive Team rescued a 26-year-old North Platte man and his three-year-old son off the North Platte river early Wednesday morning after a rafting trip went bad.

Michael Grooms and his son were found on the shore of the river at 5 a.m.

According to Chief Deputy Dean Sparks of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office, Grooms and his son set out on the river just north of Sutherland in a one-man inflatable raft at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday evening.

Sparks said Grooms mistakenly thought the trip would take two hours when, in fact, floating from Hershey to North Platte’s Cody Park takes about eight hours.

Groom’s girlfriend became concerned when the pair hadn’t arrived at the park and contacted the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office.

Sparks said deputies got as much information as they could from Groom’s girlfriend and then activated the Sutherland and North Platte dive teams. The three agencies searched for several hours and the Nebraska State Patrol’s Air Wing Division was called to assist.

North Platte Dive Team members located Grooms and his son at 5 a.m.

Sparks said that Grooms had a small life preserver inside the raft but the boy’s temperature was 96 degrees when he arrived at Great Plains Regional Medical Center. The boy also had numerous insect bites on his body, Sparks said.

Sparks said deputies from the sheriff’s office are investigating the father, who could be facing child abuse charges in connection with the incident.

Sparks said this was the second rescue incident of this nature in as many weeks. He said dive team members and deputies rescued another group of floaters two weeks ago who dumped their inflatables.

Sparks warned anyone considering floating down the river during its flood stage.

“The river’s depth and undercurrents are much more dangerous now and may cause catastrophic problems,” Sparks said. “Because of these issues, we encourage everyone to stay off the river until the flood stage has passed.”

“Part of our duties is search and rescue and we are happy to serve in that manner, however the public needs to be aware of the dangers and protect themselves,” Sparks said.