A Surrey firefighter is suing the City of Revelstoke and Revelstoke Mountain Resort after he was seriously injured while diving into Williamson's Lake last summer.
Aaron Gelowitz was vacationing with his family in Revelstoke when the incident occurred on July 27, 2015, according to a statement of claim filed in court.
They were staying at Williamson's Lake campground, when Gelowitz swam across the lake to a rock on the other side. There, he dove into the water, where he hit his head on a rock, leaving him critically injured.
He suffered a large cut to the head and was air-lifted to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, according to an RCMP news release issued after the incident. RCMP said he was "experiencing numbness in his arms and legs."
The claim says he experienced a C-5 spinal cord injury. Facebook photos show him confined to a wheelchair.
Gelowitz's statement of claim says he "took reasonable precautions in evaluating whether the water was deep enough to dive into."
It also says there were no warning signs anywhere at the campground or around the lake warning of diving hazards, and that the defendants should have known of the risks of diving into the lake.
The claim accuses the city and resort, which owns the land where Gelowitz dove into the lake, of not posting adequate warning signs and failing to mark hazardous areas of the lake; and exposing him to foreseeable risk of injury.
"Had the Defendants posted more prominent signage in proper locations, the Plaintiff would not have dove into Williamson's Lake," the claim states. "The Defendants owed a duty of care that when the Plaintiff entered the Williamson Lake Campground, he would be reasonably safe in using the premises."
Gelowitz is seeking compensation to cover his medical expenses, lost wages, and "general damages for pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life."
Gelowitz did not respond to a request for an interview about his accident and the lawsuit.
The City of Revelstoke declined to answer to questions about the lawsuit.
“It would not be appropriate for me to comment on potential litigation issues,” wrote Dawn Levesque, the city’s director of corporate administration, in an e-mail.
Revelstoke Mountain Resort also didn't respond to questions submitted via e-mail.