Man drowns as police watch.

If it had been a black man drowned as white officers looked on the headlines would scream it and the mobs would be out again all over the country.

But the drowned man was white, as were the cops.

Their race was not even mentioned in the stories, let alone the headlines.

Man drowns as officers look on without coming to his aid, family wants them fired

Officers with the police department in Decherd, Tennessee, right outside of Winchester, were in a car pursuit in the early morning hours of June 4, trying to pull over Johnny Baldwin for a minor traffic violation, Winchester Police Chief Richard Lewis told ABC News on Wednesday.

The guy was fleeing like a bank robber from a minor traffic citation?

As Baldwin drove down a dead end, Winchester police joined Decherd officers in the pursuit at 1:43 a.m., according to a Winchester Police incident report.

Baldwin then fled on foot, and as the Winchester officers searched the area, they heard something in the water nearby, the report said.

Officers reached the edge of Tims Ford Lake and saw Baldwin halfway across, the report said.

"I gave him orders to stop and swim back towards us, which he did," an officer said in the report.

. . . .

Chief Lewis defended the actions of his two officers at the scene and said they "made the right decision."

One of those officers could not swim, Lewis told ABC News, and the second officer was taking off his gear to get in, but the first Winchester officer stopped him.

"We are not trained in water rescue -- we do not possess the gear to do that," Lewis said. 

"You've got to have a flotation device tied off somewhere to the bank where they can rescue you if something happens."

. . . .

Officers were also concerned whether Baldwin would engage in a struggle with police considering he had already fled, according to Lewis.

"That's the reason we didn't jump in," Lewis said. 

"If my officer got in there and got tied up with him [and got pulled under,] it's just a bad situation."