RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — A widow is suing the city of Riviera Beach, claiming its fire rescue department lacked the training and equipment to save her husband when his SUV plunged into a canal almost two years ago.
'This type of training, the needed equipment should have been available to the city,' Attorney Scott Smith tells WPTV Investigative Reporter Dave Bohman
Gia Thomas filed the lawsuit against the city a day before holding a news conference with her attorneys at the site where her husband, Heath Thomas, drowned.
"Very angry. Hurt," Gia Thomas said.
Gia Thomas continues to visit the roadside marker on the banks of the canal where her husband died.
"Two years now, I'm still feeling the same pain. He was my soul mate, my whole life," Gia Thomas said.
The lawsuit claims crews failed to secure or stabilize the vehicle before breaking a window or opening a door. This caused the SUV to sink, resulting in Heath Thomas suffering a preventable and wrongful death, according to the suit.
"They simply were not equipped with the training, knowledge, experience, and equipment necessary to properly and safely perform and execute this water rescue operation," Scott Smith said.
Smith is an attorney representing Gia Thomas.
"Riviera Beach has some 8 miles of canals here in the city. Riviera Beach sits on the Intracoastal Waterway," Smith said. "Singer Island is on the ocean, so this type of training, the needed equipment should have been available to the City of Riviera Beach."
I went to Riviera Beach Fire Rescue to see what the department has done to improve its water rescue program since the tragedy. A staffer said the department is not commenting.
"I don't blame it on the fire department. I blame it on the people that didn't train the fire department to do their job," Gia Thomas said.
"It’s the most devastating loss that's ever happened. I would not wish this on anybody, what I'm going through and what my family is going through."
Attorneys are not saying how much money they are seeking in the lawsuit.
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