Carmen Jean-Baptiste, former lifeguard awarded $3.5 million

Carmen Jean-Baptiste, former lifeguard awarded $3.5 million

By Greta Kreuz

August 10, 2012 - 05:42 pm 

Video link: http://bcove.me/brglte2e

Carmen Jean-Baptiste is relieved the six year battle is over. Today, a federal jury awarded her $3.5 million in a sexual harassment lawsuit .

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Jean-Baptiste was a life guard at the Takoma aquatic center in the summer of 2006 when she said her boss, Ronald Weaver, repeatedly harassed her, asked her out on dates, leered at her in her bathing suit and made vulgar comments.

When her protests were ignored, she filed a written complaint. A few days later, she was terminated.
The jury not only awarded the 43-year-old District resident the hefty damages, it also hand-wrote a list of recommendations to judge Royce Lamberth, asking the District to review and clarify its sexual harassment policies and investigate all employees' actions at the Takoma pool that year.
“He added it's the first time in 24 years on the bench he's ever had that kind of request,” says attorney Timothy Fleming.
No criminal charges were filed against weaver and he is still working at a D.C. pool.
A D.C. Parks and Recreation spokesman told ABC7 news Friday it is working with the office of the attorney general to review the verdict and get guidance on next steps.

Read more: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/08/carmen-jean-baptiste-former-lifeguard-awarded-3-5-million-78711.html#ixzz3I7Z8cibN
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Father devastated by daughter’s death after pool tragedy in RAK holiday horror

Father devastated by daughter’s death after pool tragedy in RAK holiday horror

7DAYS May 19, 2014

source: 

Leila Baker tragically died last month after spending 23 days on a ventilator following an incident at a RAK hotel

A father has told how his family is struggling to come to terms with the death of his five-year-old daughter.
Leila Baker died last month after spending 23 days on a ventilator at Saqr Hospital in RAK. She was rushed to hospital after being found submerged in a hotel pool.
Her father, Mohammed Baker, who lives in Dubai, is currently waiting for the outcome of a public prosecution investigation into the tragedy, which happened during a three-day, family break in Ras Al Khaimah. He said Leila, his eldest daughter, suffered severe brain damage as a result of the incident on April 2 at the Hilton Ras Al Khaimah Resort & Spa.
“My daughter drowned on the second day of our stay. I had taken a week off work so I could spend quality time with my daughter, who was on school holiday,” he said.
Baker said the accident occurred about noon, when he and his wife had returned to their room to change.
“My daughter had earlier played near the children’s swimming pool with a girl from a neighbouring villa. When we returned to the room, she told her mother that she was going back to play with the girl,” said Baker. About 10 minutes later, Leila’s mother went outside, but could not see the girls.
“My wife started searching for her everywhere. She went to the swimming pool and asked the lifeguard if he had seen Leila,” he said. Baker added the lifeguard spotted Leila in the pool and dived in and pulled her out.
The guard then performed CPR with the help of a British guest who was a doctor. Baker said he believes Leila was in the pool for up to 20 minutes. She was taken to hospital, where doctors told the father that Leila was brain dead. She was pronounced dead just over three weeks later.

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Baker said his family was devastated, adding: “My wife suffered from psychological shock after she learned about the death of her child. She is still struggling to come to terms with it.”
Prosecutors are investigating the matter and said they had questioned two hotel emplo­yees, including a lifeguard. A spokesperson for the hotel said: “The wellbeing, safety and security of our guests are of paramount importance to us and we will, of course, continue to cooperate with local authorities as they investigate the matter.”
ismail@7days.ae

Drowning victim's father urges ban on pool parties

Drowning victim's father urges ban on pool parties

Police say boy's death was an accident and there are no suspects

source:

• By Dina Aboul Hosn, Staff Reporter
• Published: 00:00 November 29, 2011

• Image Credit: Supplied
• A grief-stricken father who lost his son in a swimming pool incident has called for a ban on pool parties for young children. Picture for illustrative purposes only

Dubai: A grief-stricken father who lost his son in a swimming pool incident has called for a ban on pool parties for young children.

Ahmad Ali, father of eight-year-old Ali Mazahir who drowned on Thursday, said he was still not completely informed about the circumstances surrounding his son's death in a swimming pool in a Dubai Marina building during a classmate's birthday party.

"My son was invited to a pool party, and I was reluctant to let him go, but the invitation clearly said that a lifeguard would be present," Ahmad, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, told Gulf News. On Thursday afternoon, Ahmad met Ali at Gems Wellington School, where the child was a grade three student, to pick him up from his school.

"I took the bag and said goodbye just before 1pm. That was the last time I saw my son alive," he said.

Receives call

Around 2.30pm, the family received a call from the parents hosting the party, saying that their son had an incident and was on his way to Al Wasl Hospital.

"I called the mother, who was accompanying my son. She said the doctors refused to tell her anything and were asking for the child's parents, and I realised that my son was no longer with us," Ahmad said.

Doctors tried to revive him for 45 minutes, but he was lifeless and there was nothing they could do, Ahmad was told.

"There were 24 kids in that party, and I'm wondering if it was possible for any lifeguard or parent to supervise and control them," Ahmad said.

Ahmad was trying to fly his son back to Pakistan for the funeral yesterday, but formalities were not completed on time. "Hopefully, we will be able to fly on Tuesday night. Ali was a lively child when he came here, and all I'm taking back is a coffin and documents," Ahmad said.

Ali is survived by his parents and a sister, six-year-old Anna Zahra. Dubai Police said the death was an accident and there were no suspects.

"A family was hosting a party to which other families were invited, and by the time they noticed that a child was missing, he had already drowned," said Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Director of Dubai Police's Criminal Investigation Department, adding that no one was held responsible for the death.

Most important

Dr Tapan Das, Sports in Charge and Head Swimming Coach at the Indian High School, said the most important thing for children's safety in pools is to encourage them to get in the water only when a lifeguard is present.

"Children should be informed which is the shallow side of the pool and allowed to acquire the swimming habit, which is just like walking," he said.

More lifeguard patrols at Jumeirah Beach

High waves and windy conditions forecast for next two days

By Joseph George

Published Sunday, March 06, 2011

Number of visitors to the beach have dropped drastically (JOSEPH GEORGE)

Jumeirah Open Beach in Dubai is now opened for public with more strict lifeguard patrols. However, the number of visitors have dropped drastically. On Sunday morning  there were less than two dozen people.
Majdi Tag, a senior lifeguard with the Dubai Municipality told 'Emirates24|7' that a yellow flag has been hoisted and visitors are allowed to enter water in the morning as the conditions are relatively safe.
“It’s towards noon that the sea begins to get rough when we hoist the red flag. Then we do not allow people to even touch water,” he said.
The place did not witness any untoward or dangerous incidents last week, mainly due to very strict patrolling. “I was told by an official that 11 people were rescued by Dubai Police Rescue Team over the weekend. Seven of them were from the beach close to the Jumerirah Beach Residence and four from the beach close to Burj Al Arab. None of them are controlled by the Dubai Municipality,” he added.
Dubai Municipality employs 34 lifeguards who man the three beaches at Mamzar, Jumeirah Beach Park and at the Open Beach. “Six of them are stationed at the Open Beach alone. We have had no untoward incidents this year. One person drowned in February 2010 - unfortunately, he was swimming in a non-permitted zone," said Tag who has 17 years experience as lifeguard with Dubai Municipality.
“People believe good lifeguard is when they have a lot of rescues. My opinion is that a good lifeguard is someone who prevents people from getting into an accident in the first place,” he added. Remembering one of his rescues he said, “AN Indian family of seven people were getting drowned when they were trying to save one of their family members who was drowning. I had to rush into the water and with the help of four other lifeguards we managed to rescue all of them,” he added.
Forecast
Meanwhile, the National Center for Metrology and Seismology has re-issued a warning for people not to go to the beach for the next two days due to high waves and winds.

The center’s forecast states that the weather today (Sunday) will be windy and dusty, and there is possibility of rain in the southern and western parts of the country. The sea waves will be high as well. 

"On Monday, there is a possibility of rain, especially in the morning, and it will also become dusty. Sea waves will be high and the public is advised not to get into the sea for their safety," the center said.

As for Tuesday, the weather will be partially foggy and cloudy, and the temperature will rise gradually.

Dh3,000 Dubai penalty for pools without lifeguards

Dh3,000 Dubai penalty for pools without lifeguards

DM guideline stresses the importance of a qualified lifeguard at every residential building pool

By Sneha May Francis source:

Published Saturday, November 01, 2014

While some building owners hire lifeguards, others let watchman man the pool (Sneha May Francis)

Most Dubai residential complexes boast a swimming pool but how many are supervised by a qualified lifeguard? Not many.

And this, despite the law clearly stating that a lifeguard must be stationed at the swimming pool in a residential building.

While some building owners hire lifeguards, others ignore these basic safety guidelines and let their building watchman man the pool.

Talking to ‘Emirates24|7’, Sultan Essa Al Suwaidi, head of public safety at the Dubai Municipality, said overlooking this rule could cost the land owner. “If the swimming pool is not guarded by an approved life guard then the building owner can be penalized with a fine of Dh3,000.”

That’s only for first-time offenders. “If they continue to flout the rules then the penalty can be increased, and, if the case demands then we could even order the closure of the pool.”


In fact, Sultan stressed that the need for a lifeguard is outlined when the blueprint of the building goes in for approval.

“Even during the stages of getting a building blueprint approved, a swimming pool drawing will show an allotted marking for a lifeguard. Without this no building will get an approval.”

Sultan explained that a watchman can’t double up as a lifeguard. “The skills for each job is different. One man can’t do both. The lifeguard must be qualified to his duty.”

Many residential buildings in Dubai blatantly ignore this rule.

“There’s no one monitoring our building swimming pool. The watchman used to keep it under lock and key, but now leaves it open. He’s never around, and I often spot young kids playing in the pool without any adult supervision,” stated a resident in Bur Dubai.

“There are no floats or other safety equipment around either,” added another. “There is a board that states many rules, but there’s no lifeguard around.”

Another resident complained about how children are left unsupervised in the pool. “I see them diving into the pool. Some don't even know how to swim but jump in just to have fun. It’s scary,” reported a resident of Al Nahda.

Some watchmen who spoke to this website even confessed not knowing how to swim. “I’ve been asked to go there and check once in a while, so I do it,” said one of them.

Two men from city drown in Mauritius

TNN | Oct 15, 2014, 12.44PM IST
source:
COIMBATORE: When Sarath Chandran's family bid him farewell on October 8, they had no idea that it would be the last time they would see him alive. In fact, they were happy that he was getting to go on an official trip to Mauritius, sponsored by his employer V W R International. It was a terrible shock when his body arrived in the city from Mauritius on Tuesday evening.

Based on accounts from family and friends, Sarath Chandran, 29, and Rajeshkamal V, 27, both working at VWR International had travelled to Mauritius on an official trip on October 8. Sarath fell into the swimming pool of the hotel they were residing in and drowned while Rajesh died attempting to save him.

According to a relative at Chandran's house, "The family received a call on Saturday from the company saying that Sarath and his colleague had drowned in an accident at the swimming pool at Les Orchidees Hotel where they were put up."
The father of a five-year-old child, Chandran had been the sole breadwinner of the family, which included his parents and wife. "They live in a rented house and his father, a kidney patient was just about to begin dialysis, which would have been sponsored by Sarath if he was alive," said Chandran's relative.

The family suspects that Chandran's diabetic condition might have led to his death. "Since he was diabetic and he suddenly fell into the pool, the difference in temperature between his body and the water could have caused a stroke or a seizure," said the relative. "When Rajesh jumped into the pool, believed to be eight-ft deep, to help Sarath, he might have also drowned," suspected the relative. The family says that if a lifeguard had been on duty, perhaps both men could have been saved. 

Paraglider Rescued After Crashing into San Diego Cliff Side

Oct 7, 2014, 12:43 PM ET

By ABC NEWS via Good Morning America

source:

VIDEO: Paraglider Rescued After Crashing into San Diego Cliff Side

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A paraglider had to be rescued off a cliff near the coast of San Diego after he hit it head-on and held on to a ledge for his life.

The 47-year-old man, who was not identified, crashed into the bluffs just after 3 p.m. Sunday.

“He slid probably about 10 or 15 feet down onto a small ledge and he stayed on that ledge for a quite a while,” eyewitness Dan Wilkinson told ABC News. “He wasn’t saying any words. It was just yelling and screaming.”

San Diego lifeguards and rescue workers rushed to the scene in a race against the wind as they worried the wind would carry the man, still attached to his glider, away.

"That is always a risk because if the wind picks up then it can move the paraglider which would then move the patient,” said San Diego Lifeguard Lt. Rich Stropky. “We don’t want that to happen.”

Rescue workers used a helicopter to reach the glider and then used a pulley attached to a rescue bag to lift the man to safety.

The paraglider was taken to a local hospital to be treated for back and hip pain, according to rescuers.

Those who watched the accident unfold say the man was lucky he landed on one of the cliff’s edges.

“If he was higher up or just a little bit lower where he was, he would have gone down,” Wilkinson said.

Were teens mutilated by same killer?

New DNA evidence questions whether 1978, 1984 murders are linked

By Kristina Davis2:15 p.m.Oct. 25, 2014 source:

Claire Hough, 14, (left) Barbara Nantais, 15, (right) were murdered at Torrey Pines State Beach, in 1978 and 1984. The crimes were strikingly similar.

SAN DIEGO — The crimes were chillingly similar. The same San Diego beach. Two teen girls beaten in the head, mutilated with a knife, parts of the breast sliced off. Strangled to death. Wet sand stuffed in their mouths.

Barbara Nantais, 15, and Claire Hough, 14, were both out-of-towners, from Long Beach and Rhode Island, respectively, who felt the same draw to Torrey Pines State Beach on August days, six years apart.

For decades, as their murders remained unsolved, it was hard to mention one case without mentioning the other. There were just too many similarities to imagine the brunettes weren’t killed by the same person.

SDPD criminalist Kevin Brown works at a crime scene in 1991. Brown, who worked for 20 years in the San Diego Police Department's laboratory, apparently committed suicide Tuesday as police were making preparations to arrest him in the 1984 murder of 14-year-old Claire Hough.— Howard Lipin / U-T San Diego

Ronald Tatro was identified through DNA as a suspect in a 1984 homicide. He died in 2011.

Last week, San Diego police said they’ve solved one of the murders. DNA evidence linked two men — retired San Diego police criminalist Kevin Charles Brown and violent criminal Ronald Clyde Tatro — to Claire’s 1984 killing, police said.

But no evidence has surfaced that links either one to Barbara’s 1978 death, said San Diego homicide Capt. Al Guaderrama.

Barbara’s murder is still an open investigation, but police say Claire’s killing is case closed. Tatro died in 2011 in an apparent boating accident in Tennessee. And on Tuesday, Brown’s body was found hanging from a tree in Cuyamaca State Park in an apparent suicide.

Brown’s widow is adamant that her husband is innocent, and that his suicide was not an admission of guilt but of being driven mad by the police’s accusations against him. She claims his DNA match doesn’t implicate him of murder, but is instead proof of contamination of evidence at the police lab where he worked for 20 years — a possibility that authorities say has been ruled out.

The strikingly similar murders that have haunted detectives for decades have diverged into complex investigations, sparking fresh questions with no easy answers. Are there more clues to be uncovered, or have the best leads died with the two suspects?

Danger at the beach

Barbara’s body was found on the beach, near lifeguard tower #7, the morning of Aug. 13, 1978. She had driven down from Long Beach with her boyfriend at the time, and the couple had spent the night in zipped-together sleeping bags on the sand. Her boyfriend was beaten unconscious in his sleep, and he stumbled dazed and bloodied the next morning to a car where his friends were sleeping.

Her body was found nude, spread eagle, her right nipple sliced off. She had facial injuries, a cracked skull and strangulation marks, according to the autopsy report.

Claire’s body suffered many of the same injuries. The Rhode Island teen was visiting her grandparents, who lived in nearby Del Mar Heights. She walked to the beach alone on Aug. 23, 1984, with a portable radio and pack of cigarettes. A man who lived in the area found her body about 5 a.m. and called police from a nearby convenience store.

Claire was found lying on a white towel, her body mutilated by cuts, her face bruised, her left breast removed with a knife. Her jeans were found torn open and pulled halfway down her hips.

 

Police have not said whether either teen was raped, although both autopsy reports show the girls suffered injuries consistent with sexual assault of some kind. No semen was recovered from their bodies.

Investigators recovered DNA from three unidentified females and two males that was found on cigarette butts near Claire’s body, police said. Witnesses told police that they saw a group of people hanging out on the beach in that area that night.

Cases linked

The FBI offered assistance to the investigations, and in 1995 told police the killings were likely committed by the same perpetrator. The cold case homicide website also suggested a connection.

Claire’s parents, Samuel and Penelope Hough, had their own suspicions.

When the grieving parents visited the site of their daughter’s murder two days later, they spoke with a lifeguard, who told them the man who had discovered Claire’s body was down the beach. The man, Wallace Howard Wheeler, was known in the area. He collected aluminum cans.

At first they started toward him, but thought better of it. They felt sure the discovery would have been shocking to him. Maybe he was a suspect.

“Despite popular fiction and television programs, amateurs don’t solve criminal cases, and that’s not what we were there for,” Samuel Hough said in a recent interview.

But Wheeler sought them out. He proceeded to inform the family, with seemingly little sympathy, that he was a psychic and had envisioned an angelic girl would be killed by two men. When Samuel and Penelope returned to Rhode Island, they received letters every week for more than a month from the strange man on the beach.

“His letters were bizarre,” he said.

Samuel Hough said he would photocopy the notes and send them to police. Guaderrama said detectives investigated Wheeler, but determined fairly quickly that he wasn’t involved in the death.

Claire’s father said he didn’t remember if that conclusion was something detectives shared with him early on, but if they did, he and his wife likely didn’t put much stock in it. He was the only likely suspect in their minds — until the DNA matches.

The parents were told about Brown’s death days ago.

Wheeler also met a tragic end. He jumped off the 13th-floor balcony of his downtown San Diego apartment building in 1988 at the age of 65. He had been diagnosed with emotional problems and had not been taking his medication of late, his daughter told authorities. He had tried to kill himself two years earlier by driving off a cliff, she said. Numerous writings on his thoughts on religion were found in his apartment, the autopsy report said.

Cases reopened

In 2012, the cold case team took yet another crack at both murder investigations. Around the same time, Barbara’s former boyfriend, who was beaten alongside her in the first attack, was putting pressure on investigators to solve the crimes, according to his blog posts. 

“This is a case we really wanted to solve,” Guaderrama said Friday.

Police ran DNA from the evidence through a national database of criminals’ DNA for a match. As it turns out, the database also includes DNA and fingerprints of crime lab personnel, to safeguard against false matches.

In November 2012, the database got a hit on both Tatro and Brown on samples taken from Claire’s body, launching an exhaustive follow-up investigation. Guaderrama said all efforts were made to determine if the criminalist’s DNA somehow contaminated the evidence mistakenly, and investigations concluded that was impossible. Brown never worked on any part of the case, the homicide captain said.

Guaderrama said the case against the two men involves other evidence, but he declined to elaborate for now.

Investigators determined Tatro, an Army veteran, had died a year earlier. When they tried to link him to the first murder, they found he was nowhere near San Diego. He was serving prison time in 1978 for a kidnapping in Arkansas. He had snatched a young woman from a liquor store, stuffed her in the trunk of his car, and raped her. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison, but for unknown reasons, only served eight, Guaderrama said. He was out before Claire’s killing. A year later he kidnapped a La Mesa teen. He was sentenced to another three years in prison.

The investigation turned to Brown, whose suspected involvement continues to leave doubts, particularly for those who knew him. He passed an independently administered polygraph test, his lawyer said. But the accusations — whether true or not — appear to have been too much. His wife was told there was no suicide note.

As for the first murder, Brown’s lawyer said he also had an alibi: He was working in New Mexico.

Staff writer Lyndsay Winkley contributed to this report.

Phuket lifeguards close beach, urge tourists to heed warnings

Phuket Gazette - October 7, 2014 | 06:16 PM

- See more at: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Phuket-lifeguards-close-beach-urge-tourists-heed/37121#ad-image-1

Phuket lifeguards close beach, urge tourists to heed warnings

Phuket Gazette - October 7, 2014 | 06:16 PM

- See more at: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Phuket-lifeguards-close-beach-urge-tourists-heed/37121#ad-image-1

Hero surfer Dylan Smith will be remembered with a street renaming two years after he saved his Rockaway neighbors during Hurricane Sandy

Hero surfer Dylan Smith will be remembered with a street renaming two years after he saved his Rockaway neighbors during Hurricane Sandy

Dylan Smith, 23, died a few weeks later in a surfing accident. But family and friends want his life remembered. Dylan Smith Way will mark the corner of Newport Ave. and Beach 130th St. The new sign will be unveiled on Saturday at 2 p.m.

BY Lisa L. Colangelo

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, October 23, 2014, 7:09 PM

 

  Dylan Smith, the Rockaway surfer who helped rescue his neighbors from raging waters during Hurricane Sandy, is being memorialized on a corner in his hometown.

Almost two years to the day he rescued neighbors from the raging waters of Hurricane Sandy, hero surfer Dylan Smith will be remembered with a street renaming in Queens on Saturday.
The corner of Beach 130th St. and Newport Ave. in Belle Harbor is being renamed “Dylan Smith Way.”
Smith tragically died in a surfing accident just weeks after Sandy slammed his Rockaway street with floodwaters and fire.

 

 Anthony DelMundo/Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily Queens Borough President Helen Marshall talks about Dylan Smith, who saved several lives during Hurricane Sandy, as she gives her last and final State of the Borough Address in Colden Auditorium at Queens College located at 65-30 Kissena Boulevard in Queens on Tuesday, January 22, 2013.

He was lauded for using his knowledge as a lifeguard and surfer to ferry people through the water to safety.
The ceremony, which includes Smith’s family, friends and City Councilman Eric Ulrich, starts at 2 p.m. and will go on rain or shine.
lcolangelo@nydailynews.com

Australian dies while surfing at Kuta

Australian dies while surfing at Kuta 

Source:

The Jakarta Post, Denpasar | Archipelago | Mon, October 27 2014, 7:53 AM

An Australian citizen, identified as Peter John Surman (56), has died in a surfing accident at Kuta Reef, a well known surf break around 1.5 km off Kuta Beach.
Denpasar water police chief, I Wayan Redip, said the victim was surfing at Kuta Reef on Friday when he suddenly passed out.
“The beach lifeguard brought the victim by jetski to the beach. He was taken to BIMC Hospital but was pronounced dead two hours later,” Redip said.
Redip suspected that the victim, who was on holiday with wife Louise Amanda Surman, suffered some form of health problem leading to him passing out.
Coordinator of Badung lifeguard, Ketut Ipel, said his team learned of the incident when a fisherman phoned them to report he had found a body floating near the surf break.
 

Franklin County teen comes to woman's rescue after she falls off boat

• 
  STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS | The Roanoke Times

  Davis Daniel, 17, a senior at Franklin County High School who lives at Smith Mountain Lake, heard some commotion on a neighbor’s dock and arrived in time to save a woman who had fallen into the water. He had never had lifeguard or CPR training, he said.
  

Posted: Monday, October 27, 2014 12:00 am source:

By Annie McCallum annie.mccallum@roanoke.com 981-3227

They had never met before. Eugene and Emily Chianelli lived on one side of Smith Mountain Lake and Davis Daniel and his mother lived on the other.

But that changed one evening in August.
Davis, a high school senior, was outside his home practicing lacrosse when he heard cries for help — they were coming from Eugene.
Eugene’s wife Emily had been docking the boat the two were in when she fell into the water. Eugene, who is in a wheelchair, said he kept calm and called for help.
Unsure of what he would find Davis, 17, raced over.
“I looked beneath the dock and jumped in and pulled her out,” he said. “I didn’t 100 percent know what to do, but I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t be there and just do nothing.”
Davis got Emily out of the water and performed CPR until help arrived.
Looking back on those moments, he said he was scared.
“I was just thinking how bad it could have been,” he said.
Today, Eugene said his wife is recovering nicely. She broke her arm and spent some time in the hospital after the accident. She’s now getting physical therapy for her injury.
“I would say she’s slowly returning to normal,” he said.
Eugene didn’t want to think about what would have happened without the quick action of Davis.
“We’re not going to talk about that,” he said.
When Davis arrived at the scene, Eugene recalled telling him that Emily had gone under.
“He didn’t hesitate to dive in about 8 feet of water and go down to retrieve her and pull her to shore,” Eugene said. “He was able to think clearly and do what had to be done without hesitation.”
Eugene later called Davis’ mother, Cathie Daniel, from the 17-year-old’s cellphone to let her know what had happened, which initially was jarring. Cathie was not home and when she saw her son calling, and answered to find a strange man on the other end of the phone, she was immediately concerned.
“You think he’s dead on the side of road,” she said.
But Eugene explained what had happened.
“There’s a little bit of disbelief to it,” Cathie said. “It doesn’t surprise me at all he had [the] presence of mind to have composure to do what he needed to do.”
She said when her son arrived, Emily was unconscious in the water and pinned under a dock.
“It was not a good situation,” Cathie said. “It absolutely makes you think.”
The Chianellis, who have lived on the Bedford County side of Smith Mountain Lake for 13 years, had never met the Daniels, who have lived in their home seven years, until that evening, Aug. 20. They were visiting a friend who is a neighbor of the Daniels to do a favor at the time of the accident.
Cathie, a single mother, described her son as focused and self-disciplined. He is a senior at the Roanoke Valley Governor’s School and Franklin County High School and also plays on three lacrosse teams.
“He’s been a model child for me: focused, thoughtful, smart but not condescending,” she said. “He’s just a lot of fun to be with.”
News of Davis’ quick action and calm has gradually spread.
“I think it’s good [that] people remember the good in other people,” Cathie said. “There’s just so much where people grab onto bad. It’s good to have something to celebrate.”
Davis also wrote an essay about the experience for his English class in response to a prompt to write about a personal experience and its effect on him. In his essay Davis wrote in detail about the incident, including his feelings once the paramedics arrived.
“Nothing can compare to the feelings of intense relief and empowerment I felt when I realized that not only was she no longer my responsibility, but also recognized the fact that I was the catalyst that ensured her survival,” he wrote.
“This sense of euphoria was short-lived, however, and was quickly overwhelmed by the fear of what may have been.”
Cathie said her son doesn’t understand the recognition that the experience has caused. Davis said he is uncomfortable with the attention.
“I wasn’t really looking for any recognition, I suppose, so it’s kind of unexpected,” he said. “It just doesn’t really feel like I should be recognized for doing the right thing.”

Brothers, devotee drown in cities

Brothers, devotee drown in cities - Festivities end on gloomy note in capital, steel city

OUR BUREAU

Chhath vratis take a dip in Subernarekha on Wednesday evening while thousands throng (top) the ghat in Mango to offer morning arghya on Thursday. Pictures by Bhola Prasad Two little boys and a father of three drowned in Ranchi and Jamshedpur, respectively, on Thursday morning in twin tragedies that have left this year’s Chhath celebrations, amid touted safety measures, scarred forever. While brothers Alok (8) and Atul Mahli (6) met with the accident while making a splash in a six-feet-deep pond in the capital’s Bariatu area after the sunrise puja, Guljari Prasad Sao (31) — who knew how to swim — went missing at Domuhani in the steel city while offering suryoday arghya. Though Sao’s body was not found in the 15-feet-deep waters at the confluence of Subernarekha and Kharkai rivers till sundown, he is feared dead. According to eyewitnesses, Alok and Atul — sons of a RIMS security guard and students of Kind Land Academy — were playing in the waters close to the pond periphery at Som Vihar, 2km from Bariatu doctors’ colony, around 8.30am. “Chhath Puja was over and devotees, including their mother Rekha Mahli, had dispersed. The boys, who were playing near the banks, slowly began drifting to the centre of the pond, where the water was too deep for them. Two passers-by — local resident Shankar Nayak and his son Sagar — suddenly noticed them making desperate attempts to stay afloat,” said Sandeep Nayak, a neighbour of the Mahlis. “The father-son duo wasted no time and dived in to save the boys, but it was too late. The brothers were taken to RIMS, but declared brought dead,” he added. The Mahli residence was found locked since the morning mishap. Mother Rekha, who supplements her husband’s income by working as a maid, was found wailing at her brother’s home, a little distance away, as she sat amid a pile of clothes — twin pairs of jeans, two tees and a sweater — that her two sons had left near the pond. Her brother, Jeetu Mahli, who works at the RIMS operating theatre, said the bodies would be taken to Lohardaga, where the boys’ grandparents live, for cremation. Sub-inspector Mahendra Hembrom of Sadar police station said a case of unnatural death had been registered and the bodies sent for autopsy after which they would be handed over to the bereaved parents. The other incident took place in Jamshedpur’s Sonari three hours before the Ranchi tragedy. Sao, a resident of Bhuiyandih, was visiting his brother-in-law for Chhath. According to a relative, the accident took place around 5.30am when Sao was in the waters to offer arghya like countless others. “He ventured too deep and was swept away,” said Janardan Shaw. Others claimed there were no divers present to save him despite promises made by the East Singhbhum district authorities. “We were at the Chhath ghat in Domuhani since 5am, but did not see a single lifeguard. Had there been one, he (Sao) could have been saved. His three children have been orphaned now,” rued Amit Sao, another relative. The 3km bank stretch at Domuhani draws 3 lakh Chhath devotees. As a safety measure, police installed CCTV cameras while the district health wing posted medical team and ambulance. Swimmers (local fishermen) and a rescue team with rafts and paddleboats were expected too. Sonari OC Animesh Gupta denied lax safety arrangements. “We had deployed six divers and 10 policemen for safety of devotees. In fact, the divers had plunged in at the sight of the drowning man, but could not trace him,” he said, adding that it appeared Sao knew how to swim. “The victim had been swimming in the river before he drowned while offering arghya. The maximum depth at river’s meet was 15ft at that time.” According to Gupta, seven divers — including one from Tata Steel — had launched a search later, but Sao was not found till 5pm. “We will resume the operation tomorrow (Friday) morning. Maybe, the body will surface on its own,” he said. Should the twin incidents be seen as Chhath safety lapse? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com

Lifeguards vow to keep looking for boy

Five-year-old boy Jack Dixon remains missing, nearly a week after he was swept into the ocean by a wave on a Mount Maunganui beach.

 source:
 8 October 2014

Surf lifesavers have vowed to keep searching for missing five-year-old boy Jack Dixon "for as long as it takes".
Jack disappeared last Wednesday when he was swept into the ocean by a large wave at Shelly Beach while he played with his two cousins, aged 12 and 14.
Police, Coastguard and lifesavers have been searching for him ever since, and Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service chairman Paul Treanor says they will continue looking for him, along with lifeguards from Papamoa and Omanu.
Mr Treanor says lifeguards have put in nearly 2500 volunteer hours in the search for Jack - a high number given that the total patrol hours last summer was just over 5000 hours.
He says their effort wouldn't be possible without the hours of training.
"The lifeguards from all three clubs have run a gauntlet of parallel emotions since the search began - we've shared the agony of Jack's family and we've seen their haunted faces looking frantically out to sea," he said.
"At the same time, we've been the most-equipped people on the scene, the ones who've felt most useful and able to help, which is precisely why we put such an emphasis on training and up-skilling our members."
Police say Jack was caught by a king tide that caught the children off guard.
The lifeguards are also searching for 37-year-old Stephen Tracey, who went missing on September 27 after telling his family he was going on an hour-long walk.

NZN

EXCLUSIVE: 'I was Hasselhoff’s Baywatch body double thanks to his chicken legs

EXCLUSIVE: 'I was Hasselhoff’s Baywatch body double thanks to his chicken legs’: LA lifeguard who helped inspire hit show reveals its secrets and shares hilarious never-before-seen 'teaser tape'

• Trained lifeguard Michael Newman was childhood pals with Baywatch creator Greg Bonnan
• He starred in the 'teaser tape' Bonnan made to sell the show and reveals it for first time to MailOnline
• Newman got a key role on the show and was also Hasselhoff's leg stand-in
• He also taught Pamela Anderson how to run on the beach like a real lifeguard 
• Baywatch is now being turned into a Hollywood movie with The Rock  

By Emma Patterson And Jon Boon

Published: 15:07 GMT, 29 October 2014 | Updated: 16:20 GMT, 1 November 2014

 

 

Real life Baywatch hunk Michael Newman has given a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of the 1980s TV hit.

The former LA lifeguard starred in a never-before seen 'teaser tape' that was used to sell Baywatch to TV chiefs, which today he unveils to MailOnline.

Now 59, Michael was a regular stand-in for David Hasselhoff because of the star’s ‘chicken legs' - and even taught Baywatch bombshell Pamela Anderson how to run on the beach.  

Stand-in: Michael Newman with Baywatch star David Hasselhoff. Newman's legs were used to cover up The Hoff's 'chicken legs', he says

Chicken legs: Professional lifeguard Michael Newman (right) said he often stood in for 6ft 4ins tall David Hasselhoff (left) due to his skinny legs 

Michael - affectionately nicknamed Newmie - said: 'There were many times when Alex Daniels, who was David’s stunt double on the show, and I filmed dangerous scenes together, and I would be driving a powerful race boat and Alex would be having to jump down into the boat going at some 60mph from a 70ft cliff edge and not land in the ocean, then he has to trust me to the right place at just the right time.

‘Most of the time, when you saw Hasselhoff’s legs, you were often looking at my own legs. Hasselhoff always had very skinny chicken legs!'

Newmie also worked as a technical advisor on Baywatch and admitted that although slender, many of the actors weren't fit enough for the show - so he had to put them through his own training camp.

 I'd teach the actors to run with the lifeguard can...so that when Pamela Anderson ran with the can, it didn't look like she was holding a purse!

 - Michael Newman

He said: 'I’d teach them how to run with the lifeguard can and how to swim with your head up and get the basics down, so that when Pamela Anderson ran with the can it didn’t look like she was holding a purse!’ 

‘I was technical consultant on the show and was constantly asked by the writers about every action scene we shot. 

'The head writer on the show would call me up and say: "Ok Mike, what kind of equipment would we use in this scene? What kind of radio equipment would the actors use? What would the traffic sequence be? What would they be saying on the radio?" And I would dictate all this information to these guys and they would repay me by writing me some good stuff in the show.’ 

The show never did win an Emmy as Newmie says: 'It’s so hard to remember all the storylines, but one thing I will say about the scripts is that we used to laugh because they they would adapt stories from all over the place and make them work for Baywatch.

‘There was an episode with an electric eel that was attacking one of our guys in a cave, and so we used defibrillator patterns, the heart shocking device, to shock the eel and kill it, but it was a rubber eel. It was the stupidest thing I had ever seen!'  

You get the idea: Michael Newman starred in a 'teaser tape' for what his childhood buddy and fellow lifeguard Greg Bonnan would use to sell his idea for Baywatch to TV chiefs

Co-stars: Michael Newman with Baywatch bombshell Pamela Anderson. The professional lifeguard trained Pam and other show stars

Baywatch was the brainchild of his schoolpal and fellow lifeguard Greg Bonnan, who got him on board to film a trailer on Santa Monica beach - complete with the now famous slow-motion running.

Bonnan, Newmie said, had long dreamed of making a show about lifeguards, telling his pal: ‘You know, if that piece of s**t show CHIPS can be so popular, why can’t we make a television show about lifeguards?’

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After a busy day on the Santa Monica shore, Newmie said: ‘We’d had one of those days where we’d had lost kids and rescues and fights and drunks and people breaking into cars and umbrellas stabbing people - it was just a crazy chaotic day.

‘And so we decided to go and have a beer after work and think some more about it.’

Fate dealt a hand when Bonnan rescued the 13-year-old son of TV executive Stu Erwin in 1978. When asked how he could repay him, Bonnan asked for help with his TV idea, which the pair worked on for 10 years. 

Fun in the sun: Greg Bonnan's tape of course included glimpes of bikini-clad girls on the beach

Eighties-style: Baywatch became a byword for scenes of scantily-clad girls

A smash hit: Baywatch was axed by NBC after its first season in 1989 - but Hasselhoff and the show's creators teamed up with producters FreemantleMedia to turn it into a syndicated, international hit

Newmie also reveals that fate again stepped in when Bonnan’s sister married a successful TV writer called Doug Schwartz, who ended up becoming a producer on Baywatch. 

Greg sold the show to NBC after showing them the tape and the show launched in 1989.

But even though it featured the star of Knight Rider, Baywatch was axed after one season, prompting Hasselhoff and the producers to sell it to FreemantleMedia which sold the show internationally and created a syndication deal. 

It went on to become the most watched TV series in the world, running up until 2001, and Hasselhoff, who played Mitch Buchannon, is believed to have made $70 million from the series. 

Key player: Michael Newman with Baywatch star Alexandra Paul, who played Lt. Stephanie Holden

Today: Michael Newman, now aged 59, is battling Parkinson's Disease.  A trained lifeguard and firefighter, he ended up being the technical advisor on Baywatch and appeared in 159 episodes 

Despite his long history on Baywatch - Newmie appeared on 159 episodes - he would never quite make it to stardom - or achieve the same pay as the show stars.

He says: ‘The ratings went up, and then the ratings came down. And as the ratings came down, their way of fixing that problem was by firing everybody and getting a whole new crew, and one of the best ways to do that is to get the hell out of town, so that’s when they took the show to Hawaii.' 

And he smiles: ‘To give you an idea of the kind of money I made, I bought a property next door to my house and renovated it and sold it. 

‘I made more money building that one spec house than I made in all the years that I worked on Baywatch. If I hadn’t been wasting my time on Baywatch and had been building spec houses instead, I would have made some real money.’ 

Fit: Michael Newman, a trained firefighter and lifeguard, subjected all new cast members to his boot camp as he says none of them were fit enough for the series!

Star: Pamela Anderson had her breakout role on Baywatch as C.J. Parker. Michael Newman says his show pay rate was 'quite a bit less' than hers

He continued: ‘The way I was treated on Baywatch, they didn’t give me a lot of respect and it would have been real easy for them to thank me, but for the seven years I was a screen actor, I got paid the absolute legal minimum, which when I started was like $350 per day.

‘I have no idea what it is now, and it’s obviously gone up since then, but just the stinginess and the lack of grace on the show wasn’t great. 

My rate was quite a bit less than Pamela’s. I have no idea what she was on, she may have been up at the $60-80k mark, where other girls on the show were on $1,000 an episode, so that could be seen as quite disrespectful, but it didn’t really have to be that way.’

Similarly, he says, some of the actresses would only end up making $50,000-a-year, when the taxman took his slice.  

After Baywatch, Newmie became of one of Hollywood’s leading water star trainers. 

Copied: The final scene on the Baywatch teaser tape shows Newman standing against the sunset - an image copied on Baywatch's titles 

He trained Ashton Kutcher in The Guardian, Kevin Costner and Tom Hanks for his role in Angels and Demons.

However, Newmie, married to his wife Sarah with two children, is now battling Parkinson’s Disease.

He was diagnosed in 2011 after seeking help for a tremor in his leg and is retired, dividing his time between homes in Hawaii and the Pacific Palisades, California.

He says: ‘I suffer with the shaking and get tremors, I also don’t walk very well due to an accident I had a few years before I got Parkinson’s and although I had the foot treated it was always weak, and now the Parkinson’s just makes worse.

He adds: ‘But as soon as I step into the ocean, I don’t feel like I have Parkinson’s. I can still swim, surf and enjoy the life I love and know.' 

Action: Michael Newman and pal Greg Bonnan taped their teaser on Santa Monica beach - with the lifeguard on duty turning a blind eye

Reboot: Michael Newman says about the upcoming Hollywood movie: 'It better show some respect towards the profession of lifeguards in some way. I'm not asking for much'

Asked about the Hollywood Baywatch reboot, Newmie said: ‘My first feeling about The Rock being confirmed to star in the new Baywatch movie is that I'm available for some swimming lessons!

‘He's definitely majestic, generally angry, so they'll have to have some fun. I don't want him to be serious. I would want him to play the role tongue-in-cheek.

If they want to do comedy, then they can do comedy. But if they're going to do a lifeguard movie, it better show some respect towards the profession of lifeguards in some way. I'm not asking for much.’

Newmie’s charity work is done with the Cedars Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute and he works closely with Dr Clive Svendsen, PhD, who is the Director of Regenerative Medicine Institute.

He will attend a fundraiser for the Regenerative Medicine Stem Cell Lab on December 2. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2810061/I-Hasselhoff-s-Baywatch-body-double-thanks-chicken-legs-LA-lifeguard-helped-inspire-hit-reveals-secrets-shares-hilarious-unseen-teaser-tape.html#ixzz3Hv9e0bCM
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