HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- The Florida lifeguard who was fired after leaving his post to help rescue a swimmer outside his zone will be offered his job back.
Jeff Ellis, head of a company that provides lifeguards at Hallandale Beach, tells the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Tomas Lopez was fired too quickly.
Ellis says no area of the beach his company patrols was left unattended while Lopez went to assist a swimmer in distress. Witnesses pulled the man out of the water and Lopez and an off-duty nurse tended to him until paramedics arrived.
Lopez was fired shortly after on grounds he'd broken a company rule by leaving his section of the beach.
But Thursday Ellis said Lopez should never have been fired and would be getting an offer to go back to work.
Associated Press