Rudy Trevino, the 10-year owner of Fit Stop CrossFit in San Antonio, was at the finish line during the first event of the 2024 CrossFit Games in Fort Worth.
“He was there, then he was gone,” said Trevino of how he saw Lazar Đukić disappear into Marine Creek Lake last Thursday.
Trevino — a former lifeguard trained in deep, open-water rescue — knew what he was seeing.
“There are classic signs that you are taught to look for. Lazar had them all: head tilted back, eyes wide open, bobbing motion,” Trevino said.
He estimates that Đukić was only 50 meters from the finish line.
“I have heard people say he was 100 meters away, but I don’t think he was that far. Maybe 50,” he added.
A Plea for Help
Trevino, who used to train and certify other lifeguards, immediately began yelling at the security standing right near him.
“I was ignored,” he said.
Then he jumped the barricade and began working his way to the finish line, where he was met by two more security guards.
“I again pleaded with them to get someone out there. They said it was being handled, but it wasn’t,” Trevino said.
That’s when Trevino started second-guessing himself.
“Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I didn’t see what I thought I saw. I hoped I was wrong,” Trevino said of the thoughts that raced through his mind.
He was not.
“We saw him drowning,” he said.
Looking Back
Days later, Trevino keeps replaying the event in his mind.
“My biggest regret is not fighting those guys. Pushing my way where someone of more importance would take notice and at least start the process of looking for him because, at that point, he would have only been under the water for under a minute,” Trevino said. “Maybe I could have run to the pier that was right there and jumped in. People would have taken notice then.”
He keeps asking himself why he didn’t fight harder, and the only answer he can come up with is that he trusted the organizers and lifeguards knew what they were doing.
“And then [I] turned to self-doubt. Maybe I was seeing things,” he said.
Trevino was not imagining things, and based on what he witnessed, Đukić didn’t even have a chance, he said.
The two safety people he saw on stand-up paddle boards in the water near Đukić weren’t equipped to rescue a drowning athlete.
“Their board was only good for someone to grab onto, but what if they had to jump in and go after someone? There was no flotation device in sight…It’s incredibly dangerous to go in after someone drowning without a flotation device,” Trevino said. “They drown you trying to save themselves inadvertently,” Trevino said.
Trevino said that he also saw two jet skis in the water, “but even they didn’t appear to have rescue equipment.”
The standard Trevino was always taught was “10 seconds to spot a victim, 20 seconds to get to them.”
There was no way a jet ski could get to someone in 20 seconds with only two out there,” he said.
“Those rescuers were not equipped to actually rescue,” he concluded.
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Featured image: Joe Genetin-Pilawa
The post “He Was There, Then He Was Gone”: Former Lifeguard Gives Eyewitness Account of Lazar Đukić’s Death appeared first on BarBend.