Guy ran away from the cops, went into the water on his own accord, and put himself in this situation
As mentioned many times, cops are NOT required to know how to swim, as water rescues are not part of the job description. Might as well require EMTs to know how to work the equipment in a fire truck.
People think saving someone from drowning is like it is in the movies. Some studly guy dives into the water, comes up a second later with the unconscious victim draped around their shoulder, and easily swims back to shore. NO. Drowning people panic and do anything for air, including pushing their attempted rescuers underwater to lift themselves up.
Learning how to swim is easy. Learning how to rescue a drowning person is hard.
The outrage just seems to be coming out of ignorance from people saying that saving a drowning person is easy, and said people are just covering their ears saying "LALALALALALALA I can't hear you!!!" when tons of people tell them otherwise.