Jurors heard opening statements Thursday in a wrongful death lawsuit regarding a teen who drowned in a rip current at Mission Beach.
Woodlain Zachee Prudhomme, 18, drowned in 2022 after a city of San Diego lifeguard directed him to move to an area where a rip current was known to be, an attorney representing the young man’s family told jurors.
An attorney for the city, however, argued that what happened was “a tragic accident” and it occurred in part because Prudhomme was a poor swimmer and didn’t heed posted warnings. Further, she said, “there’s simply no credible evidence” that the alleged interaction with the lifeguard ever occurred.
Prudhomme’s parents filed the lawsuit a year after their son’s death, claiming that the city was negligent in failing to properly warn swimmers of rip currents on June 14, 2022, the day the teen drowned.
The suit accused a lifeguard of approaching Prudhomme – who was at the beach the day after his graduation from Crawford High School – and his two friends and instructing the group to swim towards Tower 16, despite knowledge of a dangerous current around that structure.
In a courtroom at the San Diego Central Courthouse Thursday, Domenic Martini, one of the attorneys representing Prudhomme’s family, told the jury Prudhomme and one of his friends were initially in a safer area of the beach in waist-deep water when a lifeguard on a jet ski directed them to swim closer to Tower 16.
The family of an 18-year-old who drowned after getting caught in a rip current last year has filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego for negligence and dangerous conditions at Mission Beach that allegedly led to their son's death. t.co/NEJS3ST6gZ
— FOX 5 San Diego (@fox5sandiego) May 7, 2023When Prudhomme and his friend entered that area, the water “suddenly and very quickly” got deeper and caused the teens to feel like they were being pulled out to sea, the attorney said.
“In his last moments on this Earth,” Prudhomme pushed his friend towards shore and she was assisted by a bystander on a boogie board, while Prudhomme went beneath the waves and disappeared, Martini said.
Kelly McGeehan, a deputy city attorney for the city of San Diego, denied that a lifeguard directed the teens to head towards Tower 16, noting that claim comes from Prudhomme’s friend, who is expected to testify during the trial.
McGeehan said the area near Tower 16 was reserved for surfers, and that city lifeguards would not have instructed swimmers to move there.
The case comes down to “choices in the face of warnings and common-sense risks,” she said, adding that there was signage posted on lifeguard towers regarding the dangers of rip currents and flags denoting areas where swimmers should stay.
She said Prudhomme “had limited swimming capabilities” – causing him to go underwater in under 40 seconds – and thus should have had a heightened awareness of posted warnings.
McGeehan also argued it would have been redundant to staff a lifeguard at Tower 16 because swimmers weren’t supposed to be there.
The trial, expected to last about 10 days, will include testimony from Prudhomme’s friends and family, as well as expert witnesses who will testify regarding ocean conditions that day and whether the lifeguards’ response to the emergency was adequate.
The proceedings, originally set to begin on Jan. 24, were continued to Feb. 28.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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