Posted on 04/30/2018 2:05:37 PM PDT by BBell
When he was made assistant manager of a pool in Fairfax, Virginia, two years ago, Mateusz Fijalkowski spoke barely any English and did not know how to swim.
In the United States from Poland on a summer program, Fijalkowski spent most of his time here hospitalized after nearly drowning in that pool. Now Fijalkowski, 23, is suing the police officers and lifeguard who pulled him out.
Often police are sued for being too aggressive with mentally ill people; in this instance, they are accused of not doing enough to stop a man in the midst of a bipolar episode.
Fijalkowski was left underwater for more than two minutes, he says in a lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday, April 27, while eight police officers watched and stopped a lifeguard from jumping in to help. Police contend that the officers acted appropriately to both save him and protect the lifeguard and themselves from a disturbed person.
When the lifeguard did pull him out, according to his lawsuit, Fijalkowski had stopped breathing and had no pulse.
"The police allowed me to sink before their eyes," Fijalkowski said in an email, in Polish. "I'm glad that in the end they realized that they shouldn't let me drown, but I don't thank them for letting me die, clinically, before their eyes."
He is suing because he has more than $100,000 in medical bills from the episode, he said.
Police are incredulous.
"They saved his life - he did not die," Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler said in an interview. "You're going to sue someone for saving your life?"
Roessler said that had officers or the lifeguard gone in earlier, they might have gotten dragged under the water themselves.
(Excerpt) Read more at duluthnewstribune.com ...
“”You’re going to sue someone for saving your life?”
Wasn’t this the first part of The Incredibles?
Probably following the advice of some ambulance chasing attorney, Mr Fijalkowski must feel he has achieved the American dream.
Fijalkowski is obviously mentally ill.
I am willing to help those in need.
His lawyer should be drowned in the closest Porta-potty.
I guess he figures he could sue himself into enough money that life’s worth living a little longer.
“When he was made assistant manager of a pool in Fairfax, Virginia, two years ago, Mateusz Fijalkowski spoke barely any English and did not know how to swim.”
Sigh.
Throw him back in with some cement.............................
Does anything surprise you anymore?
Yank his visa and send him home. He has no right to stay and the ability to sue from Poland is minimized.
Ohhh...that's bad. I will remember that one.
Jackie Chiles!!! One of the many awesome minor characters on Seinfeld. That’s what made the show great.
When did we all get transported to Bizarro World, and how do we get back to Earth?
And if they let him drown his relatives would sue.
Crazy person with. No law behind him?
“When the police arrived, Fijalkowski ignored them and kept blowing his pool whistle, according to the court filings. The police cleared patrons from the pool area. They brought a Polish-speaking officer and Fijalkowski’s Polish-speaking roommate, both of whom Fijalkowski ignored. Instead, according to police reports, he kept shouting, “I am the lifeguard” and praying in Polish.
Twice, Fijalkowski threw his cellphone in the shallow end of the pool and retrieved it. He climbed the lifeguard tower, shouted and blew his whistle.”
***
Needs the video.
Want to live now. Well they saved your life.
If you want to die, be our guest.
Maybe the people to sue would be the ones who hired him for that job for which he was not suited.
He needs to sue the people who hired for a job of which he was particularly unsuited. This is bizarre!
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