Florida lifeguard gets fired for saving a life

Jeff Ellis Management, the company for which Tomas Lopez worked, had said lifeguards cannot go beyond the perimeter of the beach they are responsible for overseeing. The 21-year old lad left his post so he could save a swimmer outside his coverage zone.

After the media got going on the story the company offered him the job back but he refused.

Three other lifeguards quit in protest and two others were dismissed after saying they would have acted as Lopez did.

"They told us we would be liabilities and we had to be let go," lifeguard Travis Madrid told CNN.

Lifeguard Szilard Janko said he guarded Lopez's zone while the latter aided the swimmer. "They let him go after he performed the rescue," Janko said. "They fired him basically on the spot."

"At that point I knew I was going to be fired. I knew I had broken the rule," Lopez said. "In those cases, we are supposed to call 911 and hope they get there in time."

Did Lopez deserve to be fired? I surely don't think so.

This is stupid.
This is a good example how "rules" can create a crazy, abnormal situation.

smh the company needs to be sued

No,no way.He  should he considered a hero.
I like the fact that some of the other life guards quit their jobs to support him.

It sad that the company was worried about their liability insurance more than saving a persons life.A big thumbs down to them!!

That is just nuts! Whatever happened to the sanctity of human life?

I am glad he said take this job and shove it when they offered it back to him. Proud of the others that got canned for saying they would have done the same and the ones that quit on his behalf!

katt

That's just stupid, I really can't believe they fired him, good for him that he refused the job offer.

Absolutely ridiculous situation.  Call 911 and hope they don't drown in the meantime.  How absurd.

He should definitely not have been sacked.

blue

There is ALWAYS exceptions to rules in life and saving one takes top priority. Instead of this life guard being declared a hero he was treated like a like a useless lazy worker disloyal employee.

Who ever wrote these rules should be fired and another management company should be hired.

Lips

So a lifeguard should just sit back and watch someone drown? A person who cares about what they're dong never throws their hands up and says Not My Job. Way to punish someone for taking their job seriously and saving a life. Freakin idiots.

It was realized the firing  was a big huge mistake.  He was given a key to the city today. 

The company did it all wrong. They should have said "We have policies that restrict this, however, we commend our lifeguard for saving the life. Now, let's talk about that unprotected area shall we?"