When a stranger ran up to Tomas Lopez on a Florida beach and told him a man was drowning, Lopez did not check a map. He ran south, nearly 1,500 feet past the boundary of his assigned zone, and pulled a semi-conscious man named Maksim Samartsev out of the water.

For that, he was fired.

The Rule He Broke

Hallandale Beach had a contract with Jeff Ellis Management, a private company that provides lifeguard and facility management services. Under their policy, if a lifeguard sees someone drowning outside their designated zone, the protocol is to call an ambulance and stay at their post.

Lopez left his post. His employer terminated him the same day.

What made the firing harder to defend: Lopez's post was not left unattended when he ran to help. Jeff Ellis himself later confirmed this, acknowledging that Lopez should not have been let go under the company's own standards.

Six More Followed Him Out the Door

When the story became public, six of Lopez's coworkers spoke out and said they would have made the same call. All six were fired.

That detail alone shifted the story from one man's firing into something larger. This was not a single supervisor making a bad call. It was a system firing anyone who prioritized a life over a liability boundary.

Chris Brewster, president of the U.S. Lifesaving Association, did not mince words. "Surf beaches are normally managed by lifeguards who are public safety professionals," he said. "They don't ignore people in distress."

The Rescue, and the Man Behind It

Maksim Samartsev, 21, was from Estonia. He was semi-conscious when Lopez reached him, struggling to breathe. Lopez and an off-duty nurse stayed with Samartsev until paramedics arrived.

When the two men met publicly afterward, Samartsev shook Lopez's hand. "I would like to say a big thanks to this man," he said. "He saved my life."

Samartsev later said that unmonitored stretches of the beach were dangerous, and that he was considering legal action against the city over the gaps in coverage that nearly cost him his life.

The Aftermath

The city of Hallandale Beach presented Lopez and the other lifeguards who assisted in the rescue with keys to the city. Jeff Ellis Management publicly announced it would not seek to renew its contract with the city when the agreement expired.

Lopez was offered his job back. He turned it down.

"Now that this is public, they want to fix it," Lopez said. "That's shady to me. If I never said anything, they never would have acted."