Las Vegas World News
  • Home
    • About us
    • Authors
    • Opinions
  • Vegas News
    • Las Vegas News
    • Local news
    • Crime
    • General News
    • Domestic violence
  • Top Stories
    • Headlines
    • Top Stories
    • General News
    • Unbelievable News
  • Con Artists
    • Simon Gann
    • Jordan Gann
  • Missing Persons
    • Missing persons presumed dead
    • Missing persons found safe
    • Missing persons found dead
  • Tips and How to’s
    • Safety Tips
    • Health Tips
    • Women’s safety
    • Internet safety
    • Preventing bedbugs
    • Craigslist safety
    • Cruise ship safety
  • Interesting
    • Bad Priests
    • Bad teachers
    • Cold Cases
    • Vegas Du Pont murder case
    • Sharee Miller
    • Human Trafficking
    • Female Murderers
    • Green Beret Doc.
  • Animal news
    • Animal Rights
    • Animal Abuse
    • CJ the Chimp update
  • Shop
← annual Nathan’s famous hot dog eating contest
UNLV student Randi Sundquist crowned new Miss Nevada →

Florida lifeguards fired. One now eligible for rehire.

By Chellie Cervone - Posted: Jul 5, 2012 at 6:33 pm

The number of Florida lifeguards fired has climbed to 7.  Tomas Lopez was fired for performing a rescue outside his area, 2 others were fired for supporting the fired lifeguard and 4 others resigned in protest of the original firing.  Now the company is reacting to the outrage of the Florida lifeguards fired by saying that the one now eligible for rehire

Tomas Lopez, 21 became a lifeguard four months ago,  He met all of the company’s requirements including swimming and physical exams that were required for the $8.25 per hour position at Hallandale Beach.

When Lopez noticed a man in trouble, even though the man was swimming along an unprotected stretch of beach that was clearly marked as unprotected, he sprang in to action to help save a life.

Jobs from Indeed
jobs by Indeed

Lopez said of his actions,  “It was a long run, but someone needed my help. I wasn’t going to say no”

Tomas Lopex one of the Florida lifeguards fired

Tomas Lopez, fired Lifeguard may receive an offer to get this job back (Photo source: Orlando Sentinel)

By the time Lopez arrived to assist the drowning swimmer, several others had already pulled the man out of the water. Lopez said the man appeared to be semi-conscious and had water in his lungs. Lopez and an off-duty nurse who was fortunately present, helped the man until the city’s paramedics arrived.

Was Tomas commended for his heroic actions?  Quite the contrary, he was fired from his job.

After the rescue, Lopez said his boss asked him to fill out an incident report and then fired him for leaving his assigned area. Lopez said,

They didn’t tell me in a bad way. It was more like they were sorry, but rules are rules.  I couldn’t believe what was happening.

You may wondering how this could happen if he was protecting a public beach. Hallandale Beach began outsourcing its lifeguards in 2003 as a  cost saving measure. The city outsourced the task of safeguarding the beach to  Jeff Ellis and Associates at a cost of approximately $334,000 a year to provide four lifeguards and one supervisor at the beach year-round.

Even though other lifeguards watched Lopez’s area during the rescue and even though according to Ellis spokesperson, Susan Ellis, “The beach remained protected at all times”  Lopez was still fired because, “We have liability issues and can’t go out of the protected area.”

Ellis also said, “What he did was his own decision. He knew the company rules and did what he thought he needed to do.”

Other lifeguards working for the same company have publicly supported Lopez and were promptly fired

“I can listen to the rule and tell them that I wouldn’t help someone who was distressed, but I knew if the incident ever came up I would go,” said 19-year-old Brian Ritchie, who was fired today for saying he too would rescue someone outside his patrol zone.

“What we’re basically supposed to do is watch them die,” said 16-year-old Zoard Janko, who also backed Lopez’s decision.

The drowning victim, whose identity was not released because of medical privacy laws,  remains in intensive care at an area hospital.

In a last minute reversal of their original stance and likely reacting to public outrage of the Florida lifeguards fired, Jeff Ellis, the head of Jeff Ellis Management, said lifeguard Tomas Lopez was fired too quickly and will receive an offer to be rehired.  Jeff Ellis said,

I am of the opinion that the supervisors acted hastily. It was not the appropriate course of action to take

No mention was made of the other Florida lifeguards fired or the ones who resigned in protest.

Related articles
  • After Rescue, Lifeguard Fired, Coworkers Exit(abcnews.go.com)

  • This Is What Happens When Public Services Go Private – Lifeguard Fired!(crooksandliars.com)

Email, RSS Follow
Email

Las Vegas News | Las Vegas World News More >>

    No related posts found!

Brian Ritchie , Flordia lifeguards fired , florida lifeguard will get his job back , Hallandale Beach Florida , Jeff Ellis , Lifeguard , Susan Ellis , Tomas Lopez , Zoard Janko

Follow us & stay in touch!

RSS Icon LinkedIn Icon Facebook Icon Twitter Icon Google+ Icon
The server indicates that the URL has been redirected. Try using the Curl download option on the Syndicate Press Admin Panel Cache tab. After updating the settings, be sure to clear the input and output caches, then reload this page.

Latest Las Vegas News

Failed to get content from 'http://www.fox5vegas.com/category/210851/app-news?clienttype=rss'Failed to get content from 'http://www.lvrj.com/news.rss'
The server indicates that the URL has been redirected. Try using the Curl download option on the Syndicate Press Admin Panel Cache tab. After updating the settings, be sure to clear the input and output caches, then reload this page.

Top Stories

These history-making women will control the top spots on the Senate and House Appropriations committees

Sunday January 29th,

When Susan Collins first arrived in the Senate in 1997, a male colleague approached her about committee assignments and assumed that the Maine Republican would want to serve on education and child care panels.

'Disappointing': Republican governor reacts to Trump's campaign speech

Sunday January 29th,

GOP Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire shares whether he thinks former President Donald Trump will become the 2024 Republican nominee and responds to a recent poll placing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the lead.

Analysis: Trump takes early aim at the only 2024 GOP rival he cares about

Monday January 30th,

Ex-President Donald Trump's bid to keep Ron DeSantis out of the 2024 White House race reveals as much about his own mindset and the challenges his campaign faces as it does about Florida's fast-rising Republican governor.

Failed to get content from 'http://feeds.abcnews.com/abcnews/topstories'Failed to get content from 'http://hosted2.ap.org/atom/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305'

Las Vegas Local News Channels

  • My News 3
  • Fox 5 News
  • 8 News Now
  • 13 Action News

Our Sister sites

  • Chellies World
  • Celebrity Feast
  • Las Vegas World Info
  • Las Vegas Casino Directory
  • Laughlin Casino Directory

Explore more content

Help Chellie out!

Buy Chellie some coffeeLike what you see? Then please show some love and help a blogger out and keep Las Vegas World News alive with your coffee cup donation :)

Pages

  • About us
  • Advertise
  • Archives
  • Chellies Las Vegas World News Store
  • Contact Us
  • Copyright Information
  • Disclosure Policy
  • Privacy

More Las Vegas

Celebrity Feast - Dishing up Celebrity Gossip - Chellie Style!

Las Vegas Casino Listings - Complete Las Vegas listings & Info.

Chellie's World - Great Las Vegas Information. Find out information about Las Vegas hotels, casinos and casino gambling.

Casino Jobs. Free resources. Chellie's Job Board

AdChoices

RSS feeds

  • Subscribe to All Topics
  • Subscribe to Comments
  • Headlines
  • Las Vegas News
  • The Missing
  • Con Artists
  • Tips & How To's
© Copyright2023 Las Vegas World News