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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- Lifeguard Tomas Lopez helped save a drowning man and got fired for it.
The reason: He left the section of a south Florida beach his company is paid to patrol. The Orlando-based company, Jeff Ellis and Associates, says Lopez broke a company rule and could have put beachgoers in his section in jeopardy.
By the time Lopez arrived, witnesses had pulled the drowning man out of the water. Lopez and an off-duty nurse helped him until paramedics arrived. The victim survived and was hospitalized.
Afterward, Lopez was fired.
Two other lifeguards have quit in protest.
See which celebs have hit the beach so far this summer:
May the business go bankrupt!
A life takes precidence over 'liability issues' The people on the beaches need to be able to TRUST that a person trained to save lives won't sit and watch as someone drowns because they are in fear of losing the very same job that is place to SAVE lives!
It is ridiculous that he was fired in the first place. Hats off to the kid that has his morals in place. Maybe the company could learn a thing or two from these kids.
He should site the Florida law "Under Florida’s duty to care law, sometimes referred to as the Good Samaritan Act, people have a responsibility to do what they can to help others in peril – even complete strangers" They probably will settle out of court, if they are smart. Maybe he should include a mandatory exchange of jobs between him and his previous supervisor.
Or maybe he should just take the money. It should cover his lost wages and benefits for the summer (and go towards that new 15% College tuition hike). He can still just lay and play out on the beach.