Not illegal, good samaritan laws protect you either way. However, there is a “duty to rescue” if:
1: You created the hazard that lead the person into danger, you must provide rescue.
2: A special relationship exists. Spouses must rescue each other, parents must rescue children, employers must rescue employees, property owners to invitees but not trespassers.
3: In some jurisdictions you have a duty to notify, which is usually calling the police, but you do not have to take any measures to help them beyond that. Only 10 states require this and is never actually enforced.
If employers must rescue employees, shouldn’t Amazon be in more trouble when they just leave corpses hanging around for days on end?
So if your spouse is drowning and you’re not a good swimmer you have to go die with them or you get in trouble? Obviously if there is a flotation device you’d use that but what if there isn’t like in a river or something?
I realize that other comments have already explained the law better than I could. I still wanted to say that fortunately, jumping in to drown alongside them doesn’t legally count as “helping,” so there is no expectations for anyone to do so.
I was hinting at the fact that drowning people will drown you to live themselves lol
Note: I am not a lawyer.
You’re legally required to help, not risk your own life while doing so. If somebody is drowning you need to call the emergency services and if there is a rescue buoy close by you can throw that as well and try to pull them to shore that way.
I am not a lawyer, but I think in the majority of cases you should be covered by calling the emergency services.
As a side note: unless you’re a lifeguard or have had proper training, jumping in to save somebody drowning is dangerous. A person drowning will try to hold on to anything to stay afloat and will likely try to push you under trying to stay above water.