Aspiring doctor who nearly drowned after being pushed into lake speaks out for the first time
An aspiring doctor who nearly drowned after being pushed into a Louisiana lake says he has no ill will toward the friend who shoved him — and claims he wants to set the record straight about the scary episode, he told The Post in an exclusive interview.
“I don’t think anyone did anything intentionally wrong,” Christopher Gilbert said of the April 14 incident which left him on life support for three weeks.
Gilbert and about 10 friends were hanging out and drinking at Rhett’s Tails and Shells, a restaurant in Farmerville, La., about 90 minutes east of Shreveport when his buddy and co-worker, Cassidy Holland, and Gilbert began joking around, he said.
“I took my keys, wallet, and phone out of my pockets and took my shoes off. I knew Cassidy wanted to push me in for messing with her, so I kind of played into it,” said Gilbert, 26.
“I thought maybe the water wouldn’t be as deep, and I would kind of hit the ground, get my footing and shoot up and come back up and grab the pier and just stand there,” he said during a Zoom interview from his home in Ruston, La.
“And then the water ended up being deeper than we thought and being a lot colder than we thought,” said Gilbert, who admitted he’s “not the strongest swimmer” and added, “I misjudged the situation.”
According to a police report, Gilbert was under water for “no more than five minutes,” with a witness estimating the amount of time at “more like three or four minutes.”
Friends tried to save him, but panicked when they couldn’t. Eventually restaurant customer Dawson Foust noticed the commotion and dove in and saved Gilbert, according to the police report.
Several people performed CPR on the dock, police said, noting Gilbert was breathing on his own and had a heartbeat. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and later airlifted TO LSU Oschner Health Shreveport, where he spent nearly three weeks on life support before being released.
“The on-duty Nurse stated that the standard operating procedure for drowning victims is to put them on a vent for a while so the body can heal faster,” said the police report, which also said that just one day after the incident, Gilbert was responding to commands by ICU staff.
The shove made headlines after Gilbert’s distraught mother, Yolanda George, claimed the pre-med student was “brain dead” and “his organs were starting to fail” after he was pushed into the water and stayed their for 10 minutes. A family lawyer later insinuated the shove was racially motivated.
“I kind of hate the…[claims about] me being brain-dead, or this attempting for it to be some sort of race issue,” Gilbert, who is black, told The Post.
He is concerned about the “brain dead” claim because, he said, “Who would want a doctor who has suffered brain damage?”
Holland, 22, insisted she and others attempted to save Gilbert, telling The Post, “I would never try to hurt him. Chris is a beautiful person, my co-worker, and dear friend. . . . I’m so thrilled at his recovery and getting back to normal.”
Gilbert also dismissed claims from attorney Claudia Payne, who was hired by his family, that they were seeking to arrest Holland.
“That’s completely false,” he said.
He reunited with his friends, including Holland, within two days of returning home.
“There was a lot of relief, and I felt like it was very emotional,” he said.
His new attorney, Aaron Lawrence, told The Post they don’t plan to press any charges against Holland or the restaurant, and said some of George and Payne’s statements were “reckless.”
Payne did not return messages seeking comment.
“This has been a prime example of how sharing information without common sense has made an already bad situation so much worse,” Lawrence said.
Payne hand said Gilbert and Lawrence’s latest claims are “simply false.
“For nearly two weeks, Mr. Gilbert expressed a desire to have Holland arrested for pushing him into the lake. . . . After talking to the same ‘friends’ from the incident, Gilbert texted me the following; ‘Hey Claudia, I was able to take your advice and pinpoint what happened that day. I have decided I no longer want to go through with any of it any more. Thank you for all your help i’m sorry I waste your time.’
“Gilbert is being manipulated and taken advantage of by the same group of friends and his new attorney,” Payne wrote in a statement.
Gilbert, who graduated pre-med from Louisiana Tech last year, started a GoFundMe this week to help cover his medical expenses. As of Friday, he’d raised almost $20,000 of his $50,000 goal.
But the bill for the flight lift to the hospital alone was nearly $65,000, according to Lawrence, who estimated that Gilbert’s total medical expenses could run up to $300,000.
Gilbert plans to return to his bartender job as soon as next week, and continue studying for the MCAT exam next year.
“I want to thank everyone for their support and their prayers,” he said.
