- A crowd of people watched a man almost drown instead of helping him, local police said.
- Two police officers eventually arrived and rescued the man, after throwing him a flotation device.
A crowd watched a man almost drown in a river in England, and no one did anything to help him until police arrived, according to a statement from the local police.
The unidentified man was struggling to "keep his head above water" in the River Ouse in York last Thursday, North Yorkshire police said in a Facebook post.
When two police officers arrived, "nobody had attempted to throw him a life ring," the police statement said.
The officers said they were "concerned" by the lack of reaction from onlookers, with the presence of at least two flotation devices close by.
According to the Daily Mail, some of those present reportedly even took selfies as the man shouted for help.
After arriving, the officers took a life ring, located 165 feet away from the scene, and threw it to the man, before pulling him out of the water.
"Fortunately, when we arrived, we were able to quickly find a life ring and throw it," the police said.
Bodycam images dated November 2, and shared in the same post, show the officers throwing the life ring to the man.
The man was later brought ashore and taken to a nearby hospital, where he was recovering as of Friday, per the police statement.
The North Yorkshire Police did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and the York Rescue Boat, which also took part in the rescue effort, per the police statement, declined to give a statement.
In its Facebook post, the police department shared a one-minute video to try to teach locals what to do if they find someone in trouble in the water.
The police statement said that they should shout for help, call emergency services, and then, if possible, throw anything that could help someone float, before pulling the person out of the water by either crouching or lying down to avoid being pulled in themselves.
"Don't jump in to try to save them, and please don't just stand there videoing it on your mobile phone," the statement said.