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12:51 pm
June 20, 2007
From kyoshida78:
This morning an elder man jumped off the end of Venice Pier in what appears to have been a suicide attempt. I did not quite catch that part as I was just arriving during my morning run, but I did notice a young man stripped down to his shorts at the other side of the safety bars.
At first I did not think much about it because I thought he was just climbing down to a lower fishing deck or something, so I did not even check to see what he was up to. A minute later though I realized he had jumped into the water to rescue an old man (and that there was no such thing as a lower deck at Venice Pier). I only captured the last part of the rescue, because I was busy trying to catch the attention of the LADP helicopter that was cruising around while an elder citizen was on the phone calling 911 and explaining the situation. At one point, I thought I needed to jump in too, but the young man, who turns out to be a guy visiting from Spain, was a strong swimmer and got everything under control. The old man was fortunately calm, so the Spanish hero could keep him safe above water until the police and lifeguard arrived. According to his friend on the pier, the Spanish hero did not hesitate a second to jump off Venice Pier to rescue the old man. Well done Spaniard! Whatever made the old man jump, hopefully he will be okay!
1:04 pm
September 15, 2011
What a happy ending, amen and thank goodness for the Spaniard's fast action. Wonder where the lifeguard was? I have noticed that the one on the pier today was on her phone when I tried to get her attention this afternoon as she was last week when I was up there.
1:16 pm
August 18, 2010
There is a lot of talk about the LAPD on this site but none about the lifeguards.
I too have had trouble getting their attention.
Do they ever call police or enforce beach and pier regulations?
Are lifeguards elite and better than the rest of us?
1:23 pm
September 15, 2011
cch don't get me wrong, I LOVE THE LIFEGUARDS, really I do ; ) and most of them do a great job of keeping us all safe when we are in the water, but there are some that I think, well just like a lot of people in public service jobs, should find a new line of work if they can't remember who they work for. So for all the public employees out there that think we owe them something, remember we pay your salaries, we are the stock holders in this business.
1:33 pm
October 15, 2009
The lifeguards are there primarily to prevent people from drowning by preforming rescues. Additionally, they are trained by LACFD to be first responders. They are not there to be finders of lost children and pets.
They have no enforcement power per se in that they do not issue citations but they will call the police if they have to.
What specifically is the problem people are having with the lifeguards?
I'm salty and that's what keeps me spicy ©
2:20 pm
June 19, 2009
Having been rescued from a rip tide a number of years ago by a team of lifeguards…there were 5 of us who got sucked out, I have nothing but great words for them…. Also it was almost before we knew we were in trouble the boat showed up behind us and a team of lifeguards were upon us… and that's the job I think they were hired to do.
2:38 pm
September 15, 2011
as I said I love the lifeguards, I think they do a great job and appreciate all they do, but apparently someone was sleeping on the job this morning and again thank goodness a good Samaritan was there to save that man's life.
3:08 pm
January 19, 2011
I was there today, by shore end of pier when it happened. The lifeguard station is a good distance away, relative to the Spaniard, who was at the far end where the old guy jumped off. It would be damn hard for the lifeguard to have raced there quicker than someone who was already right at the point of entry.
Greg Mancuso
4:30 pm
February 20, 2010
Ms. Venice: Do you really think that you are qualified making that assumption from your keyboard?
4:56 pm
September 15, 2011
not assuming anything, just thinking…the distance to the end of the pier isn't any greater than the distance between staffed towers during this time of year, so if the distance is too far than perhaps all the beach is at risk. And if that isn't a problem than why did a non-emergency personal have to go in, what if they had been hurt? Can you see the headlines, 'tourist dies in Venice ….'
6:25 pm
March 23, 2010
Ms. Venice,
Somebody who is on the scene will always be able to respond faster than somebody who isn't.
If you're in the water next to somebody who is drowning, you will get to him faster than the lifeguard will too.
If you're standing on the pier next to somebody who jumps, you'll be able to jump in a lot quicker than a lifeguard will get to him even from just a few hundred feet away.
If somebody collapses next to me at a bar, I'm going to get there faster than the paramedics (and yeah, there's a mini CPR shield in my pocket). If my neighbor has a kitchen fire (happened a few years ago), I'm going to be there with my fire extinguisher faster than LAFD can possibly get there, even though we're just a couple of blocks away. And if there's somebody prowling through my house in the middle of the night, well, I'm surely going to call 911, but Mr. Benelli is going to be ready to meet him a lot sooner if necessary.
As with fire stations and other public responses, the life guard system is designed to provide a reasonably expeditious response to the kinds of situations that are normally encountered. They are not designed to provide an immediate response to every possible event under the sun.
Speaking as a trained responder, most people have a really, really wrong idea of how we operate. We DON'T rush and we don't allow ourselves to be worried about your expectation that our job is to be there and dive right in like the Spanish tourist. Drives people nuts, because they're thinking of BS you see on TV and movies. We do not "rush in." We take our time. Check the structure, evaluate for risks, try to identify anything in the area that may have caused the unfortunate situation to develop, make sure we have an escape path, make sure we have our buddy with us and we're both clear on who is doing what, how we're going to approach the situation and how we're going to stay in touch (literally touching each other or linked together if it's dark or there's anything else that might impair visual contact). It's not "victim first." It's rescuer safety first, general public safety second and victim safety last. Doing it any other way risks creating additional victims.
The Spanish tourist was brave, but was also somewhat foolish and fortunately lucky. Trained responders take their time and don't depend on luck. That gets people killed.
7:14 pm
September 15, 2011
Hi Michael, probably should have disclosed that I was on the pier today and last Wednesday and on both occasions I found the lifeguard on her phone, last week I even had to climb up the tower to get her to acknowledge me, so perhaps I got peeved when I heard that there was an incident while this same lifeguard was 'on duty' that and the fact that she gave me attitude today, well I wasn't too fond of that and may have taken it too personally.
