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Tomas Lopez: Lifeguard Fired for Rescuing Swimmer
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by NowPublic Staff | July 5, 2012 at 07:49 am
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Florida Lifeguard Tomas Lopez Fired for Being a Lifeguard
Tomas Lopez, a 21-year-old lifeguard on Florida's Hallandale Beach, was fired for saving a swimmer who appeared to be drowning. The problem was that the swimmer was swimming about 1,500 feet south of the area Lopez was hired to protect. Tomas Lopez rescued the swimmer, who was taken to a nearby hospital, on July 2, 2012.
Tomas Lopez told CNN, "The reason I was fired is just ridiculous. It is a ridiculous rule, really. What was I supposed to do? Just let the guy drown?"
Hallandale Beach outsources its lifeguards to a private company called Jeff Ellis and Associates, whose Susan Ellis told WPTV, "We have liability issues and can't go out of the protected area. What he did was his own decision. He knew the company rules and did what he thought he needed to do."
If you think that's a jobsworth answer, you're not alone: two other Hallandale Beach lifeguards have since quit in protest. Even Jeff Ellis acknowledged that the beach remained protected despite Tomas Lopez' insistence on helping a drowning swimmer on the wrong side of the beach.
Jeff Ellis initially shied away from comment, but the media backlash forced him to acknowledge that perhaps firing Lopez was out of line: "If he was well-intentioned and tried to do what he believed was the right thing, even if he deviated from policy, I'm not sure termination was the right thing to do."
Tom Gill, spokesman for the US Lifesaving Association (USLA) said that firing Tomas Lopez was too harsh. He couldn't say much more, though, since Jeff Ellis and Associates is not USLA-certified.
Tomas Lopez was offered his old job back, but he turned the opportunity down.
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John White (not verified)at 15:11 on July 5th, 2012
Shame on Jeff Ellis lifeguard company! Saving human life is not a matter of boundaries or monetary risks, rather it is a matter of higher conscience. The sanctity of human life goes beyond political concerns. Are we to be like the Nazi's who ignored their conscience thus slaughtering millions of innocent humans in the gas chambers? Would any conscientious person simply ignore the plea to save a human life especially if it is within their power to save them? Jeff Ellis is either a sociopath or a greedy money monger to make liability issues a higher precedence over human life. Only a monster or a sociopath would even suggest such a thing! Tomas Lopez deserves a key to the city of Hallandale Beach and should be honored for obeying his conscience and putting human life above man-made rules. Is Jeff Ellis' company the kind of people you want serving the people of Hallandale Beach? Shame on them. I am happy that Tomas Lopez turned the Ellis scumbags down when they offered to rehire him. Jeff Ellis completely offended his moral character and made him look as someone shameful for having listened to his higher sense of right and wrong, something that Jeff Ellis obviously needs to cultivate himself.
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Susan Ellis (not verified)at 22:29 on July 7th, 2012
They have since sacked more lifeguards for saying they would also save the man's life. The mayor has said it was a "misstep", policy hasn't changed. Hallandale Beach seem happy enough with theShows what sort of people live there.