Only in America
Only in America: Save a life, lose your job
A lifeguard is fired for saving a swimmer outside his designated patrol area — and more in our collection of strange revelations about the nation
A lifeguard at Florida's Hallandale Beach was rewarded for saving a drowning swimmer by being fired from his job. Lifeguard Tomas Lopez, 21, rushed to the aid of a man in an area where people are warned that they are swimming at their own risk — a slice of ocean outside of Lopez's designated patrol territory. Lopez's employer says coming to the aid of someone outside the area that the company is paid to patrol is a liability, puts swimmers within Lopez's zone at risk, and is therefore prohibited. Lopez has since been offered his job back — an offer he declined.