A medical student sustained severe brain injuries after allegedly being pushed into a lake by his so-called friends. Christopher Gilbert, 26, who could not swim, was reportedly pushed off the dock at Lake D'Arbonne in Farmerville, Louisiana on April 14.
The shocking incident was caught on camera. Gilbert struggled to get out of the water for 20 minutes. A woman who initially slowly entered the water backed off, realising the rescue mission was not possible. It was only ten more minutes later that a member of the public at a nearby restaurant came to the rescue and pulled Gilbert from the water.
By the time Gilbert was rushed to the hospital, he was brain dead. The rest of his organs had also begun to fail, his mother Yolanda George said. George revealed that her son spent 72 hours on a ventilator which was "dialysis for the lungs,” according to The Mirror.
‘I felt like my life had ended in that moment’
"I was devastated. I felt like my life had ended in that moment. My son is aspiring to be a medical doctor, my son is going to be a medical doctor. He got his masters last year in biological science. He's preparing for medical school so for this to have happened to him ... I was just devastated," said George, who went to the hospital after getting a call from one of the friends.
{{/usCountry}}"I was devastated. I felt like my life had ended in that moment. My son is aspiring to be a medical doctor, my son is going to be a medical doctor. He got his masters last year in biological science. He's preparing for medical school so for this to have happened to him ... I was just devastated," said George, who went to the hospital after getting a call from one of the friends.
{{/usCountry}}"She told me that Chris had fallen into the lake and he had been underwater for 20 minutes or so,' George told Fox8. “'And I was like, 20 minutes? Why was he underwater for 20 minutes?’”
"And she was just crying hysterically and he was being airlifted to Shreveport. And initially when my son got there the doctor called us in and told me that at this time he was "brain dead pretty much, and the rest of his organs were starting to fail",” she added.
Police said Gilbert’s friend tried to brush off the incident as "horse-play,” saying he "just kind of fell face first into the water.” However, one of them later confessed that she had pushed Gilbert off the pier.
"In the legal field, we characterize things the way we see fit,” family lawyer Claudia Payne said. "Of course, they are saying horseplay. We are saying that it was a criminal intentional push into the lake.”
"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," Payne added in a report.
While Gilbert is still unable to speak, he has been showing cognitive responses. His lungs are reportedly functioning at 20% capacity and he remains on life support.
Gilbert’s family has now called for an arrest. "Why would you push my son in the lake knowing he couldn't swim? " George said.