A Polish man, Mateusz Fijalkowski, is suing the police of Fairfax County in the United States of America and a lifeguard for saving him from drowning.
Fijalkowski, who had visited the US in 2016 on a summer programme, worked at a pool facility when he went under the water and held onto the vents for minutes until police, with the help of a lifeguard, got him out and resuscitated him.
“The police allowed me to sink before their eyes,” Fijalkowski said in an email, written in Polish and made available to Washington Post.
“I’m glad that in the end, they realised that they shouldn’t let me drown, but I don’t thank them for letting me die, clinically, before their eyes.”
The Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr. was shocked at the accusation and noted that his men did what they were supposed to do, given the circumstance.
In an interview, he said; “You’re going to sue someone for saving your life?”
Roessler said that had officers or the lifeguard gone in earlier, they might have got dragged under the water themselves.
