Florida Lifeguard Fired for Saving Downing Man Outside of His Zone: Make Sense?

because of this he's is never going to try and save someone again

When rules like laws are restrictive to common sense and what is in the better interest of human kind than those laws/rules serve no purpose but to show authoritarian rule and who is in charge rather than what is good policy for their company and their people

hes saving a freakin mans life for petes sake!!!

Oh yeah let the person die because they wern't "in the right zone".

I understand that by saving a person in another lifeguard's zone, he is leaving his zone unprotected. But the article confirms that someone else was in his zone and a person was drowning. He likely spotted it and had to make a split-second decision based off whether or not the other lifeguard had noticed and the other lifeguard's distance from the drowning man.

Rules only exist to serve a higher purpose.

"Rules are rules" is such a dumb quote.

HEY MISTER can you swim 100 feet to you're right then you will be in my zone .

Follow them as a man.
Break them and be a better man.
Make your own and become a real man.

I don't even know what to say, other than this: why does Jeff Ellis (the contractor) have a "Not my assigned patrol zone, not my responsibility" system in place? What would he be thinking if Lopez (the lifeguard) had stayed in his zone and the man drowned? Are the zones large enough? And why are the rules so strict about leaving one's zone, anyway?

"That's shady to me." (Tomas Lopez, the lifeguard in question, during an interview with ABC News)

Insurance reasons. Probably have zones that are covered by other companies around his. Insurance won't cover you if the employee is outside the area and his/her actions cause an injury or they get hurt themselves. Sucks but thats gotta be it.

Oh sure. So he's supposed to let the guy die? What the hell's the matter witih these people???? You save a life and get fired for it??????

Apparently no good deed goes unpunished! Insanity.

We now live in a society that punishes you for doing the right thing.. We are a Sue crazy country.. It's sad that being fired was even an option.. What a joke.. This guy will be rewarded in the long run so screw those that fired him.. Good for the Lifeguard in doing what is right...

If he had just let the guy drown would they have given him a pat on the back?

I understand that if he is not in his posts zone he cannot protect it which may have been the county's concern. I wonder if he tried calling in help from someone closer to the man. Either way, he saved a life. Maybe a little lecture if he didn't follow protocol but he should NOT have been fired. Perhaps they were looking for a reason to let him go. Personality conflict or prior rule breaking could have been the actual issue here.

what would he just let hime drown??? wtf is wrong with some people

Sounds like how things would be if all lifeguards belonged to SEIU or AFSCME.

He should have been rewarded, not fired.

Having worked as a lifeguard I'd like to know the entire context of what happened. If he was "racing" the guard that was supposed to cover that sector leaving his sector unprotected then there is at least an argument for termination. If the assigned guard was negligent and this guy noticed a situation outside his zone that the other guy, (or gal), missed then absolutely not.

We think alike :)

Tough Call...

Personally: I don't think he did anything wrong - - I would have hopped that if it were me, he would come save me. I commend him!

BUT:..

Our society has become very litigious about who does what why or when... SO.. rules have been put in place to prevent lawyers from making money.

He was assigned a jurisdiction... and He left his jurisdiction to save someone :: leaving his jurisdiction unprotected. He was being paid to watch section A... by the owners of section A.. and saved someone in section B, which should have had it's own lifeguard, but did not.

By general social rules, he did a good job saving someone, and is to be commended.. but he did make the choice to leave several hundred people unprotected so he could save the life of ONE.

It is called dereliction of duty... and That is a career altering decision, and his company truly has the choice to fire or discipline him.. or not...

The real question should be... If he had only WATCH the guy die - would have have been remiss of his duties. Some would argue - yes... others would argue, his job was to watch section A.. and that is exactly what he did. Could the estate of the dead man have sued the Live Guard and his company for failure to perform?

You summed up the context nicely, thank you. Having worked as a lifeguard I would say that given the choice of saving a life and keeping my job I'd automatically go for the save. Saves are not something that happen all the time. There are exceptions, such as Jones Beach in New York where due to a sharp drop off and tons of non swimmers frolicking in the swells guards there AVERAGE a save a day. However, if you see someone in distress out of sector and there is no one in trouble in your sector you sound the alarm and go for the save.

THANKYOU. I thought the whole thing was my imagination, actually believing that a save is more important then jurisdiction. I would have done the same and tried to save the guy anyway.

Interesting side note. The guy saves a life and no one in the world cares, (except the family of and person he saved). However, fire the man for it and he's international news. I hope he capitalizes on his 15 minutes of fame and gets a much better job.

I hope he does. It will serve those a-holes he was working for right. I hope they get nailed to the wall for this one. As far as I'm concerned a human life is worth more than some damned jurisdiction.

>>>He left his jurisdiction to save someone :: leaving his jurisdiction unprotected.>>>

False.

It's been determined that he did NOT leave his own zone unprotected.

There was another lifeguard there who was covering his zone while he went off to help the guy who was outside the zone.

Had another person started drowning, though, it could have been very bad. Save the one you know to be in danger instead of just watching them drown in case someone in your zone gets attacked by a shark or something.

They have enough lifeguards stationed that if someone else started drowning near his post that another lifeguard could have saved that other person. It's called backup. Even though the chances of that are extremely slim anyway lol

thats horrible

Also, they should have reviewed everything that occurred *before* firing him. >.<

I would tell those bosses to eat crap and crawl in a shark's mouth. I bet he'll be offered a better job. I hope he takes it if he does.

How ludicrous!!! He saved someone from death for God's sakes. Because someone had to up hold some dumb rule. Must of been on an ego trip. I know the man's life he saved is exceedingly glad and forever in gratitude to him for life!

Like they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

Sometimes you just have to do the right thing no matter the consequences. He notified other life guards he was going for a rescue out of his area. The other lifeguards should have shifted to cover his area.

(officially) he should get a verbal reprimand, he did break the rules.....then (unoficially) they should take him out buy him a few beers and give him a pat on the back.....

They are not wrong for firing him, but they could have overlooked this. If nothing bad happened in his area while he saved that man's life, then there should be no problem.
Plus where was the other life guard for that area the man was drowning in?
What he did was the right thing and I hope he gets his job back (if he still wants it).