Aspiring doctor left brain dead after friends pushed him into lake knowing he can’t swim
Last month, friends of an ambitious medical student, knowing he couldn’t swim, shoved him into a lake in Louisiana, whereupon he was left brain dead and they watched helplessly as the man drowned.
Stunning footage captures the group idly gazing into the lake only moments after they violently pushed Christopher Gilbert off the dock at Farmerville’s Lake D’Arbonne on April 14.
One or more of the women are seen cautiously going into the water before giving up on the search and rescue effort.
It took ten minutes for a customer at a nearby restaurant to step in and pull Gilbert back onto the ground.
By the time the 26-year-old reached a nearby hospital, his mother Yolanda George told KSLA that he was brain dead and that the rest of his organs were beginning to fail.
George referred to his 72-hour stay on an ECMO machine and ventilator as “dialysis for the lungs.”
After buddies shoved the aspiring doctor into a lake, knowing he could, he was left brain dead.
“I was inconsolable. That was when I felt like my life had ended. My son will become a doctor; he is not just dreaming to become one. Last year, he earned his master’s degree in biological science. He’s getting ready to go to medical school, therefore this happened to him… I was just heartbroken,” George remarked.
After buddies shoved the aspiring doctor into a lake, knowing he could, he was left brain dead.
His alleged friends first attempted to justify the near-death experience as “horse-play,” according to the police.
A friend of his called and she was hysterical crying. She told me that Chris has fell into the lake and he had been underwater for 10 minutes or so,” the mother said.
Eventually, a white female around the same age as Gilbert admitted to pushing him into the lake.
None of the friends, however, admitted to knowing he couldn’t swim — a claim Gilbert’s family finds hard to believe.
To add insult to injury, after pushing him, no one from the ‘friend group’ attempted to go in after him. Instead, two brave bystanders, who have no relationship to Chris, heard commotion and retrieved his body from the lake,” personal injury attorney Claudia Payne, representing George, wrote in a report obtained by the Lincoln Parish Journal.
Fortunately, Gilbert has made strides since the ruthless attack. He is responding cognitively, but cannot speak, according to George.
He still relies on life support and his lungs are said to be at 20% capacity.
The family is also demanding that an arrest be made in the tragic incident, with Payne saying the friends displayed criminal intent by pushing him into the lake.
“Why would you push my son in the lake knowing he couldn’t swim?” asked George.