An aspiring doctor who nearly drowned after being pushed into a Louisiana lake insists he had no ill will toward the friend who pushed him and wants to find out the truth about the horrifying episode, The Post reported. He spoke in an exclusive interview.
“I don’t think anyone did anything intentionally wrong,” Christopher Gilbert said of the April 14 incident that left him on life support for three weeks.
Gilbert and about 10 friends were hanging out and drinking at Rhett’s Tales and Shells, a restaurant in Farmerville, Louisiana, about 90 minutes east of Shreveport, when his friend and co-worker Cassidy Holland and Gilbert began joking, she said.
“I took my keys, wallet and cell phone out of my pocket and took off my shoes. I knew Cassidy wanted to mess with me, so I went along with it,” said Gilbert, 26. .
“I thought maybe the water wasn’t that deep, so I just got to the ground, got my footing, jumped up, came back, grabbed the pier and just stood there,” he said in a Zoom interview from his home. . his home in Ruston, Louisiana;
“And the water was deeper than I expected and much colder than I expected,” Gilbert said. He admitted he was “not the strongest swimmer” and added that he “misjudged the situation”.
According to the police report, Gilbert was in the water for “less than five minutes” and witnesses estimated the time to be “about three to four minutes.”
His friends tried to save him, but when they could not, they panicked. Restaurant customer Dawson Faust eventually noticed the commotion and jumped in to save Gilbert, according to the police report.
Police said Gilbert was breathing on his own and had a heartbeat, and several people performed CPR on the dock. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and then airlifted to LSU Oshner Health Shreveport, where he spent nearly three weeks receiving life-saving treatment.
“The nurse on duty stated that standard operating procedure for drowning victims is to place the body in a vent for a period of time to allow it to heal faster,” the police report states. He was responding to instructions from ICU staff.
The shock later made headlines. Gilbert’s distraught mother Yolanda George claimed: The medical doctorate student was pushed into the water and left for 10 minutes before becoming “brain dead” and his “organs began to fail”. The family’s lawyer later implied that the push was racially motivated.
“I kinda hate it…[claims about] I’m either brain dead or this is some kind of racial thing,” Gilbert, who is Black, told the Post.
He said he was concerned about claims of “brain death” because “who would want a doctor with brain damage?”
Holland, 22, claimed he and others tried to save Gilbert, telling the Post: Chris is a beautiful person, my colleague, and a dear friend. . . . We are so excited that he is recovering and getting back to normal. ”
Gilbert also dismissed claims that attorney Claudia Payne, hired by the family, was trying to have Holland arrested.
“That’s completely false,” he said.
He was reunited with his friends, including Holland, within two days of his return.
“I felt a great sense of relief and I felt very emotional,” he said.
His new attorney, Aaron Lawrence, told the Post he did not intend to sue Holland or the restaurant and called some of George and Payne’s statements “reckless.”
Payne did not respond to messages seeking comment.
“This is a great example of how sharing information outside the box can make an already bad situation worse,” Lawrence said.
Gilbert, who graduated from Louisiana Tech last year with a master’s degree in medicine, said: gofundme This week to cover his medical expenses. As of Friday, nearly $20,000 of the $50,000 goal had been raised.
However, Lawrence estimated that Gilbert’s total medical bills could reach up to $300,000.
Gilbert plans to return to her bartending job next week and continue studying for next year’s MCAT exam.
“I want to thank everyone for their support and prayers,” he said.
