The bottom line up front
What happened: A Galveston police training accident has ignited a storm of emotion, with pointed criticism directed at EMS providers for a perceived delay in transport. But the clinical science, lack of complete information and the pressures of public safety relationships all mean one thing: now is the time for cooperation and fact-based reflection, not division.
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When seconds matter, which seconds?
On Sept. 3, 2025, two Galveston Police Department officers nearly drowned during a swift-water training exercise at Schlitterbahn Waterpark. One of the officers, Lt. Larry Chambers, was underwater for more than 90 seconds and had no pulse or respiration when pulled from the water. Fellow officers immediately initiated CPR and rescue breaths, efforts that gave EMS a patient to work with on arrival. As news broke, the Galveston Municipal Police Association released a strongly worded letter criticizing EMS for waiting “over 20 minutes” on scene before transporting, alleging a lack of urgency, leadership and communication.
That message, amplified by local press and social media, has raised serious questions about EMS practice. But those questions are more complex than “why didn’t they go?” Galveston Police Chief Douglas Balli also praised the quick-thinking officers and the rapid, professional response from fire and EMS partners, saying their coordinated actions “ensured that lives were saved today.”
Stay and play vs. scoop and run
To the untrained eye, speed to the hospital feels like the obvious answer. Yet EMS protocols and decades of research tell a different story. For trauma patients with surgical injuries, like a gunshot wound, rapid evacuation to a trauma surgeon is the right call.
I recall the Richmond Greyhound bus station shooting in 2016, where a state trooper was rushed to the Level 1 trauma center with flawless coordination from police blocking every intersection. That was lifesaving because the surgeon was the intervention. For cardiac arrest and submersion events, the science shows otherwise. High-quality resuscitation on scene — ventilation, airway management, circulation support, medications — is more likely to produce a survivable outcome than a hasty ride.
As one EMS educator put it: ‘You can’t resuscitate at 60 miles per hour.’ The literature is clear. A 2020 JAMA study by Grunau et al. found intra-arrest transport was associated with worse outcomes compared to continuing resuscitation on scene.
The high-profile resuscitation of NFL player Damar Hamlin in 2023 is another proof point: 25 minutes of controlled, on-scene intervention, and today he is neurologically intact and back on the field.
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Voices from the field
This incident has also surfaced thoughtful perspectives from within EMS via Facebook comments:
- “Not everything is load and go … without knowing the patient’s exact stability, pressure to ‘go now’ can be more emotional than clinical.”
- “All of these things — airway management, vascular access, medications, ventilator settings — take significant amounts of time and need to be done in order to guarantee success. In the grand scheme, 20 minutes is really not that long.”
- “As a paramedic, I monitor the science, which indicates that rushed care for a critical patient in a moving ambulance may have worse outcomes than those cared for on scene … let’s wait for facts. It is what you would want for one of your officers.”
These voices underscore that what looks like a delay, may in fact have been a sequence of necessary interventions.
A family’s perspective
To offer balance, we must also hear the voice of Lt. Chambers’ wife, Hope. She credits the dive team and fellow officers with saving her husband’s life, and she is deeply critical of what she perceived once EMS took over: “There was no urgency, no coordination and no clear leadership when every second mattered most. That breakdown … was negligence, and it nearly cost my husband his life.”
Her words carry the raw weight of near-loss and remind us that when an officer goes down, emotions are high and expectations are absolute. We should not dismiss her anguish, but rather place it alongside the clinical realities.
Facts, gaps and next steps
The truth is, we do not yet know all the facts. HIPAA will shield some details permanently. Social media commentary will fill the void, for better or worse. And the back-and-forth between police associations and EMS providers risks straining the very partnerships that public safety relies on. There’s also the human factor: when fear and adrenaline take hold, time perception bends. Just this past weekend, my own grandson suffered a seizure. Thankfully, he is fine. But when I asked my son how long the episode lasted, his immediate answer was “2 hours!” The reality was about 5 minutes. In those terrifying moments, seconds feel like hours. On a chaotic training ground with a colleague pulseless and down, the same distortion of time is inevitable. Chief Balli confirmed that both officers are now in stable condition, highlighting that the rescue was conducted in a professional and coordinated manner — even as the minutiae of the EMS scene time remains under scrutiny. What we do know:
- The officers are alive thanks to the dive team, bystander CPR and the chain of care that followed.
- The EMS science supports treating cardiac arrest aggressively on scene before transport.
- Police urgency and EMS protocol can clash in emotionally charged incidents.
Accountability without barriers
As someone who contributes to both Police1 and EMS1, I see the value and struggles of both professions. But we must ensure that the thin blue line does not harden into a thick blue wall: a barrier that prevents accountability and honest dialogue when mistakes or misunderstandings occur. The case of Elijah McClain in Aurora, Colorado, looms large in many minds. In that tragedy, paramedics were later criminally convicted for administering a powerful sedative under disputed circumstances, amid allegations of law enforcement pressure and misdiagnosis. The courtroom outcome was a sobering reminder that EMS and law enforcement must each hold to their own professional standards, even in the heat of a charged scene. Allowing influence, emotion, or urgency to override evidence-based medicine carries risks — not only for patients, but for the providers themselves. That memory, and others like it, should guide us now. Criticism of Galveston EMS must be weighed against the clinical realities of resuscitation, and any review must seek to strengthen cooperation, not fracture it further.
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The way forward
This moment should not become a wedge between police and EMS in Galveston — or anywhere. Instead, it should spark interdepartmental dialogue, joint training and a shared understanding of when we stay and when we run. Our joint objective is simple: do no harm and save lives. Social media is both blessing and curse. It gives families and professionals alike a platform to be heard, but it can also be a weapons-grade device when emotion outpaces fact. For the sake of our patients and our partnerships, let’s commit to listening, learning and working together — before, during and after the next crisis.
Building strong EMS-police partnerships
While the Galveston relationships are unclear, I can say that in my own time as a U.S. EMS chief, strong police EMS bonds paid dividends. Here are proven practices worth considering anywhere:
- Meet at roll call. Send EMS supervisors into police briefings to introduce themselves, build trust and even train on skills like CPR, Stop the Bleed or naloxone use.
- Invite watch commanders in. Police leaders can join EMS supervisor meetings to discuss operational issues, crime “hot spots” or overlapping challenges.
- Incorporate into onboarding. At Richmond Ambulance Authority, new EMS employees received training on crime scene management and evidence preservation from detectives. Knowing the dos and don’ts matters.
- Exercise together. Tabletop and incident management drills are better when police officers play their own role at the table.
- Start early. The Metro Richmond Public Safety Leadership Academy brought junior leaders from fire, police and EMS together early in their careers. Bonds made then lasted entire careers.
- Go to the academy. Regularly sent an ambulance and supervisor to the police academy for tours and explanations of EMS operations, building familiarity at the very start of a career.
- Debrief together. After-action reviews and hot washes help cleanse the last incident and set a clean slate for the next one.
- Police community walks. When police and elected officials walk precincts and neighborhoods to build community confidence, EMS should walk alongside them. It’s an opportunity for public visibility and reinforcing the partnership.
- National Night Out. This police community event is also a natural platform for EMS visibility and public education. It doubles as a perfect setting for CPR demonstrations and community health outreach.
- Don’t wait for the crisis. The old cliché holds: exchange business cards before the incident, not at it.
A personal reflection
Glen Campbell is one of my all-time favorite country singers, and his “Galveston” is a song I’ve always held close. In it, he sings of duty carried out far from home, with the pull of responsibility on one side and longing on the other. That same corollary fits here: police, medics and firefighters answering their call to serve while families wait, hope and sometimes fear the worst.
In the swirl of emotion, confusion and criticism, we should remember that public safety is built on both duty and humanity — the need to act decisively, and the universal desire to see our loved ones come home safe. Galveston deserves nothing less than cooperation rooted in science, guided by compassion and focused on preserving life.
