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Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:19 am
by Gob
Florida lifeguard fired for helping drowning man
A lifeguard who left his section of a Florida beach to help save a man from drowning has been given the sack.
Tomas Lopez, 21, was patrolling part of Hallandale Beach north of Miami when he was told that a swimmer was in trouble in an unguarded area of the beach.
"I wasn't going to say no," the lifeguard said.
But his bosses said he had broken company rules and could have put other swimmers at risk. At least two colleagues have resigned in protest.
"We have liability issues and can't go out of the protected area," Susan Ellis of lifeguard provider Jeff Ellis and Associates told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
She added that the stretch of Hallandale Beach that Mr Lopez was supposed to be patrolling on Monday was being protected by other lifeguards who were on the phone to emergency operators at the time.
Mr Lopez, four months in the job, ran some distance to help the swimmer who had already been pulled out of the water by other beachgoers.
He and an off-duty nurse then helped the man until paramedics arrived to take him to hospital. The unidentified swimmer is said to be in intensive care.
Mr Lopez has no regrets about losing his $8.25-an-hour (£5.30; 6.60 euros) job.
"I think it's ridiculous, honestly, that a sign is what separates someone from being safe and not safe," Mr Lopez told CBS television.
A colleague, on finding out that he had been fired, said he radioed his manager to cover the beach for him and promptly quit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18715684
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 11:34 am
by Scooter
Of course, he didn't actually save a man from drowning, did he? And what would have happened if someone had been drowning in the area he was supposed to be patrolling? SOL, I guess.
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 11:45 am
by Crackpot
You don't suddenly stop having water in your lungs just because you're out of the water
scoot
you also seemed to have missed this
She added that the stretch of Hallandale Beach that Mr Lopez was supposed to be patrolling on Monday was being protected by other lifeguards who were on the phone to emergency operators at the time.
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 12:09 pm
by Scooter
I certainly didn't miss this part
other lifeguards who were on the phone to emergency operators at the time
There's a reason why more than one lifeguard is on duty, it's because some of them will already be dealing with emergencies that will inhibit them from keeping their eyes on the water, which is what this guy was not doing in the area he was supposed to be watching.
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 12:12 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
Mr Lopez, four months in the job, ran some distance to help the swimmer who had already been pulled out of the water by other beachgoers.
He and an off-duty nurse then helped the man
Well CP maybe you missed that? "Helped" the man to do what -sit up and read a newspaper? If it was to get water out of his lungs you'd think someone would describe that heroic action. But there is no allegation of his 'saving' anyone - just 'helping'. If the other protectors of his section of the beach were "on the telephone" at the time, they were not actually 'protecting' the swimmers they were responsible for.
This guy ran away from people he was charged to protect who were properly swimming in an area that promised protection, in order to "help" some idiot who'd chosen to swim in an area marked "NO LIFEGUARD". Liability issues indeed
Meade
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 12:12 pm
by Crackpot
I think it likely they were on the phone due to the emergency he was tending to.
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 12:15 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
What emergency? The spluttering dude getting the kiss of something from the nurse?
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 12:18 pm
by Crackpot
One isn't in intensive care if he just had to read the newspaper. And Yes it does take two trained persons to effectively tend to someone in such situations.
He made the right moral and ethical call. While his employers have the "right" to fire him for his actions I wouldn't call it the wise choice.
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 12:20 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
This guy ran away from people he was charged to protect who were properly swimming in an area that promised protection, in order to "help" some idiot who'd chosen to swim in an area marked "NO LIFEGUARD". Liability issues indeed
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 12:22 pm
by Crackpot
SO it all comes down to what section of beach you're pulled in on?
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 12:25 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
No it comes down to doing your assigned duty (legal and moral) to protect people assured by your employer that they are protected.
And not choosing to swim in an unguarded area in the hope that if you do get into difficulty, someone will abandon their post and cover your donkey.
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 12:31 pm
by Crackpot
It is easy to lose your berings and or get carried by the currents in water. at what opint does one lose or gain that protection?
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 12:33 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
At "some distance" according to the article.
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 3:19 pm
by Joe Guy
What would Jesus do?
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 3:26 pm
by Crackpot
Screw 'em Obviously he lacked faith else he wiould have been walking on water.
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:12 pm
by dales
Joe Guy wrote:What would Jesus do?
Walk on water and calm the waves, you of little faith.
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:28 pm
by Lord Jim
One isn't in intensive care if he just had to read the newspaper.
Well, that depends...
There have certainly been occasions when after reading a piece in
The New York Times I've felt like heading for intensive care....
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:17 pm
by Gob
"Help, help, there's a man drowning!"
"Sorry love, he's four foot the wrong side of the line in the sand, more than my jobsworth to help."
Reminds me of a tale I have related here before, when we had a jobsworth H&S lecture us on what we could and could not do. He told us that if a person tripped or fell in front of us, while we were on health authority premises, we were not to intervene and to let them fall.
"So if an elderly lady trips, and I am behind them, I'm to stand there and let them potentially break a hip or worse?"
"Yes, we don't want you claiming for back injury should you hurt yourself."
"Fuck that, I was brought up better than that. Your parents must be so proud of you!"
Mind you, the pencil-necked cunt told us we were not allowed to carry more than two reams of paper at a time too. As he was leaving I picked up two boxes of four reams each and followed him out.
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 10:17 pm
by Scooter
Of course, if the headline had read "Hundreds of swimmers put at risk by lifeguard who abandoned his post", it doesn't sound quite as sexy, even if it is more accurate.
This wasn't a matter of a lifeguard being fired for saving someone when he was standing around with his thumb up his ass. This was a lifeguard who had a job to do and skipped out on it. That is why he was fired.
Re: Let him drown next time!
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 11:23 pm
by Gob
This is the tale of a person who acted as any decent human being would, and got fired for it. That is why his colleagues have resigned as well.