Man Sues Police, Lifeguard Who Stopped His Drowning Attempt

Two years after a Polish man narrowly avoided death in a swimming pool, he is suing the people who pulled him out of the water and medically revived him, the Washington Post reported.

Mateusz Fijalkowski, 23, accused police in Fairfax, Virginia, of being too lackadaisical in rescue efforts when he tried to drown himself during a mental health episode in 2016. He filed a lawsuit Friday because he has more than $100,000 in medical bills, according to the Post.

Fijalkowski came to Fairfax from Poland in 2016 as part of a summer work program and accepted a job at a swimming pool. Even though he did not know how to swim, he was given enough training to carry out tasks like checking pH levels and cleaning the pool, according to the Post.

However, less than a week into the new job, his mental health took a turn. He was argumentative and hostile towards swimmers, prompting a lifeguard to contact Fairfax police.

What followed was a sequence of events that involved Fijalkowski taking multiple dips in the water after repeatedly throwing his cell phone into the pool. He allegedly spoke and prayed to himself in Polish, according to police, and blew his lifeguard whistle.

Eventually, he took a third trip into the pool, slowly walking into the deep end and submerging himself in the water. Police said he then held on to the vents on the pool’s floor, attempting to drown himself.

A nearly 10-minute long video posted on YouTube and on the webpage of Fijalkowski's law firm Victor M. Glasberg and Associates showed Fijalkowski stepping into the pool and then submerging himself underwater at the 1:44 mark of the video. At no point in the video does Fijalkowski come up for air and as police and a lifeguard stand along the perimeter of the pool. It isn't until the 4:19 mark of the video that the lifeguard jumps into the pool and to pull Fijalkowski out.

(Warning: the video is considered graphic.)

He was revived by a defibrillator and recovered at a nearby hospital. After the incident, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He told the Post that he has not had any similar episodes since.

In his lawsuit, Fijalkowski accused officers of not acting quickly enough to save him as he attempted to take his own life.

“The police allowed me to sink before their eyes,” Fijalkowski said in an email to the Post, 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.”

Police said he had been underwater for no more than a minute, which appears to contradict the bystander footage.

Police believe they acted appropriately, noting that intervening sooner could have made the situation more dangerous.