The family of an aspiring doctor whose friends left him to die in a lake when they knew he couldn’t swim are calling for legal action as he recovers in hospital.
Medical student Christopher Gilbert, 26, was pushed into a lake in Farmerville, Louisiana, on April 14, and left fighting for his life for 20 minutes while his friends watched on.
His heart and breathing had stopped by the time a patron from a nearby restaurant saw what was going on, hauled him to the surface and began CPR. By the time he reached hospital, doctors said he was almost ‘brain dead’.
Now, as the medical student makes a remarkable recovery, his family is considering civil action against the restaurant Gilbert was at before the incident and are demanding to know why no one has been arrested.
Family lawyer Claudia Payne told the New York Post: ‘Had Chris, a black male, pushed a white female into a lake, he would be arrested.’
Christopher Gilbert, 26, had graduated with a master’s degree from Louisiana State University
Video from the incident shows Gilbert’s friends casually peering into the water as he fought for up to 20 minutes to save himself at the lake in Farmerville, Louisiana
‘We don’t know if it may turn worse again because at one point, he was off the ventilator but then they put him back on two days later’ his mother said
Video filmed at the scene showed the group of friends casually peering into the water as Gilbert fought for up to 20 minutes to save himself.
The group of friends told police he ‘just kind of fell face first into the water’ before a young woman admitted that she had pushed him off the pier during ‘horse play’.
Gilbert was pulled from the water by a patron at the restaurant, Dawson Foust, who noticed what was happening and dived into the water.
If not for Foust, he may have died.
He was rushed to hospital and placed on life support as doctors told his family he was almost ‘brain dead’.
But less than a month later he has made a remarkable recovery and is talking to his family and eating again, although he is still dealing with memory problems.
Payne told The Post that his family are planning a civil suit against that restaurant, claiming it failed to properly restrict access to the lake despite serving alcohol.
They also want the girl who admitted to pushing Gilbert into the lake to be arrested.
Payne said: ‘Had Chris, a black male, pushed a white female into a lake, he would be arrested. I’ve defended alleged criminals with less evidence that they’ve made arrests on.’
‘In the legal field, we characterize things the way we see fit,’ said family lawyer Claudia Payne. ‘Of course, they are saying horseplay. We are saying that it was a criminal intentional push into the lake.’
His heart and breathing had stopped by the time an onlooker hauled him from the 15ft water
Gilbert’s mother, Yolanda George, said she was alerted when one of the friends rang her at home.
‘She told me that Chris had fallen into the lake and he had been underwater for 20 minutes or so,’ George told Fox8.
‘And I was like, 20 minutes? Why was he underwater for 20 minutes?
‘And she was just crying hysterically and he was being airlifted to Shreveport.
‘And initially when my son got there the doctor called us in and told me that at this time he was «brain dead pretty much, and the rest of his organs were starting to fail».’
George raced to the center where she found her son clinging to life.
‘I was devastated, I felt like my life had ended in a moment,’ she said. ‘My son is aspiring to be a medical doctor, he got his master’s last year. My son is so sweet, the most selfless being you’ll ever meet, I was in a terrible state.’
Outside she found some of the group in the hospital waiting room.
The young scientist from Shreveport planned to enroll in medical school to become a doctor
His father and grandfather proudly watched as he qualified from LSU
‘The friend group came to the hospital still telling me the same fabricated story that he fell,’ she said.
‘I learned at that moment in the ER, the sheriff called me,’ she said, adding that once they met she was asked if she knew what happened.
She told him: ‘Yes, he was at the lake and fell’.
But he said: ‘No, one of the young ladies pushed him.’
‘I was like «who pushed him?» And I started looking around the room, «which one of you all pushed him?»
‘The young lady like «I did», and I was «Why would you push my son in the lake knowing he couldn’t swim?»
‘She said, «Well ma’am I didn’t know that man couldn’t swim».’
The concerned mother then asked who the girl meant by ‘that man’ but understood soon enough she meant Chris.
She continued: ‘Everyone knows he can’t swim. He jokes about not being able to swim, even when we went to the restaurant the owner of the restaurant stated everybody knows Chris can’t swim, he’s been coming here for two years he’s always joking about it.’
Three weeks on he remains on life support at Ochsner LSU Health
Mother Yolanda (center) and lawyer Claudia Payne (right) told KSLA they want justice
The video shows that at one point a woman in a black bikini followed Gilbert into the water but returned without him.
Sgt Ashley Rhodes of the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office arrived at the lake to find restaurant patron Dawson Foust desperately trying to save Gilbert’s life.
In his incident report he noted his conversation with the group of friends.
‘They advised they thought he was playing a prank by not coming up immediately,’ he wrote.
‘Some members of the group did not realize Gilbert could not swim.
‘It was later discovered the group was horse playing and one of the females in the group pushed Gilbert in the water, not knowing he could not swim.
‘Foust advised me it was approximately 15 feet deep at the location he found Gilbert.’
Union Sheriff Dusty Gates gave a different account when he was interviewed about the April 14 incident.
‘The party he was with began panicking or screaming and an individual within the restaurant saw what was going on and he came out and dove in and retrieved the victim,’ he said.
‘It was a joint effort by a lot of people to make this happen, and that’s what we try to work for here in Union Parish, to work together to make it a better place.’
