Lifeguard Loses Job for Saving Drowning Man Outside His Jurisdiction
- Post 06 July 2012
- By Copy Editor
(The Telegraph) -- Tomas Lopez, 21, was manning his post on Hallandale Beach, north of Miami, on Monday afternoon when a beachgoer alerted him to a swimmer struggling in an "unprotected" part of the beach.
"It was a long run, but someone needed my help. I wasn't going to say no," said Lopez, quoted by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper.
The unidentified man was rescued, then rushed to hospital where he remains in intensive care. But when Lopez went to file an incident report, he was fired for going 500 yards out of his assigned area.
"They didn't tell me in a bad way. It was more like they were 'sorry, but rules are rules,'" Lopez said. "I couldn't believe what was happening."
"We have liability issues and can't go out of the protected area," explained a supervisor for the private contractor that supplies lifeguards for Hallandale Beach, a popular destination for Canadian winter holiday makers. Read the rest here...
"Question all which is 'taught,' dig deeper, think clearly, respond profusely. Conformity is the antithesis of free thought and self-determination." -- Standard Pearls