Rantz: Why I don’t trust any lifeguard
Aug 23, 2016, 10:57 AM | Updated: 3:05 pm
Witnesses described the scene at Wild Waves as chaotic and say the lifeguards took time to debate about what to do. (South King Fire & Rescue)
(South King Fire & Rescue)
The KIRO Radio hosts discussed a KIRO 7 investigation that says lifeguards found a man’s body at the bottom of a Wild Waves pool by accident.
KIRO 7 reported that multiple people claimed to see 32-year-old Vijayarengan Srinivasan, who drowned at Wild Waves Saturday, at the bottom of a pool but that the claims were not taken seriously. The man’s death comes as at least four other major amusement park accidents have been reported across the U.S.
Jason Rantz: “I just don’t have any trust in any lifeguard. When we’re talking about a water park or a worker at a theme park, they’re usually just kids. Some 20-something kid who is maybe working there over college, maybe it’s a first job out of high school. Do you actually trust them with your life? When you look at a place like Wild Waves or any theme park, they clearly have an incentive to make sure everyone is safe. I don’t have any doubt that they put these people through somewhat intense training but I do wonder if we’re just getting away with not getting injured. Is it possible that it’s generally so safe that it doesn’t matter that these workers are there? Things like this usually don’t happen and the moment that you do rely on lifeguards, things start to turn south. I just don’t trust them. It’s not because they’re bad people or untrustworthy, it’s just that they’re so incredibly young. I was once 18 to 25 and I was not a particularly trustworthy individual. I wouldn’t trust 20-year-old me protecting somebody’s life.”
Tom Tangney: “It always struck me that lifeguards seem to be there for show rather than help. You’re sitting there for six or eight hours a day, and 99 percent the time nothing happens. So on that 1 percent of times when it does, you really need to be all go. It’s like firemen. But they’re not firemen, they’re kids.”
Ron Upshaw: “You’re just trying to get as many people down that slide as possible. In and out, in and out. So to take a college student or maybe someone a little bit older and say watch everybody in this pool and be able to rescue everybody, that seems like a very difficult thing.”
KIRO traffic reporter Candy Harper, was at Wild Waves two weeks prior to the fatal incident and saw a 10-year-old disregard a lifeguard’s instructions on a slide and get injured: “He didn’t tuck his chin to his chest and he hit his head on the back of the slide and those lifeguards were in the water instantly,” she said. “They pulled him out on a stretcher, were checking him to make sure he was OK. So I saw the lifeguards perform a very quick task that day. But while I was standing there talking to another lifeguard she said, August is really tough here because all of the college-aged lifeguards go back to school which leaves us with a much larger underage staff.”
Dori Monson: “I think the lifeguards are there for the little kids who get dropped off by their parents or the little kids whose parents aren’t supervising them. I’m trying to figure out how this is Wild Waves’ fault. I see this story and it seems like personal responsibility has been left out of the evaluation.”
Check back for more takes by KIRO hosts as the story progresses.
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