Swimmer Fired For Saving Drowning Man Says ‘No!’ After Offered Job Back
Tomas Lopez, the lifeguard who was fired after saving the life of a drowning man, has been offered his job back but is refusing to take it. Lopez, who is 21 and was paid $8.25 an hour, was fired after he left his lifeguard post to save a man who was swimming in an area of a South Florida beach that was not covered by the contract the City of Hallendale Beach had with Jeff Ellis and Associates Management. The area was labeled with a small sign and a green flag that indicated it was unprotected and swimmers swim at their own risk.
Lopez told local news reporters before being offered his job back that saving a life “was the moral thing to do. I would never pick a job over my morals.”
And Lopez is sticking to his guns, rejecting a personal offer from Jeff Ellis, the company contracted to manage the City of Hallandale Beach’s beaches and pools.
“Company president Jeff Ellis said that one employee was fired and three had resigned,” MSNBC notes, adding:
“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,” Ellis said in a statement.
“The city’s position is if there’s an actual emergency, the lifeguard should assist instead of waiting for a perceived emergency,” Hallandale Beach spokesman Peter Dobens told NBCMiami.com.
As one resident in the video below says, Lopez deserves the keys to the city.
But the main stream media ignores the real story here: privatization is wrong.
A private company that has rules that dictate firing an employee who left his post but had it covered by someone else and then went and did the job he was trained and licensed to do: rescue a drowning swimmer, perhaps shouldn’t be in charge of the health and well-being of citizens.
Why is no one demanding that Hallandale Beach fire Jeff Ellis and Associates Management and take back its beaches?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640
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