The family of an aspiring doctor who had to be placed on life support after being 'pushed into a lake to drown' have vowed to take legal action over the incident.
Christopher Gilbert was with friends at Lake D’Arbonne in Farmerville, Louisiana on April 14 when one of them 'pushed' him from a restaurant dock into the water.
The 26-year-old, who cannot swim, reportedly spent as long as 20 minutes underwater as his companions failed to pull him out.
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It was the actions of Dawson Foust, a member of the public who was not with the group, that got Christopher out of the water in time.
He is now recovering in hospital and speaking to his family again after being put on life support, his family's attorney, Claudia Payne, told the New York Post.
Christopher's family have vowed to pursue a civil suit against the restaurant, and called for the arrest of the person who admitted to pushing him into the water.
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Payne has claimed that Christopher being black is a factor in why there have been no arrests in connection with the case despite someone admitting that they pushed him.
“Had Chris, a black male, pushed a white female into a lake, he would be arrested,” Payne said.
The attorney clarified that the family is not seeking any 'outsized' persecution of the woman, they simply want the letter of the law to be properly followed.
“I’ve defended alleged criminals with less evidence that they’ve made arrests on," Payne added.
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Christopher's mom, Yolanda George, told Fox8 that she had 'felt like my life had ended' when she found out what had happened.
Christopher had recently completed a masters in biological science and had been preparing for medical school in the lead-up to the incident.
Yolanda received a call explaining that her son had been in the water for 20 minutes.
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"She told me that Chris had fallen into the lake and he had been underwater for 20 minutes or so," she said.
Christopher was airlifted to hospital, where doctors gave a grim assessment of his condition.
Yolanda said: "Initially when my son got [to hospital] 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.'"
Christopher has since made a remarkable recovery, being taken off life support and being able to speak to his family.
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His friends claimed they didn't know that he could not swim, which his family doesn't believe.
Yolanda told KSLA: “Everybody knows Chris can’t swim. He’s always joking about it.”
Farmerville Police are conducting an investigation into the incident.
UNILAD has contacted Claudia Payne and Farmerville Police Department for further comment.
Kit Roberts