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Lifeguard Whistleblower Upset About Incident At Beach

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 32-year old man who took a video of his critical exchange with a loafing Gary lifeguard says he was very upset about what he saw last weekend.

Hugh Sutton, currently of the Indianapolis area, says he's glad he went up to the lifeguard who was lying on a towel in the sand at the foot of a lifeguard perch at Marquette Park Beach in Gary.

Sutton was at the beach with his wife and two children, ages one and 8 years old.

Sutton says it was "like (the lifeguard) didn't have a care in the world." She had her infant sitting in a car seat next to her in direct sunlight on a 90 degree day.

For about three minutes, Sutton is heard on video asking the lifeguard why she's not watching the water and the people in it and telling her she should be doing her job.

The lifeguard continues lying on the ground, unfazed by what Sutton is saying to her.

She starts to get up seconds before Sutton stopped the video.

The former Northwest Indiana resident says that, during all the time he was on the beach, he never saw a head lifeguard, a supervisor or park security.

Sutton points out that, ironically, there was a group of people at the beach earlier that day releasing balloons into the air in memory of someone who had drown.

The City of Gary fired the lifeguard after the video went public.

Sutton says, "I hope she learns from this and grows from this." He says people can get into trouble in the water "in the blink of an eye".

He says he feels good about the video being seen by thousands of people because he wants to get the word out that "stronger training needs to be in place" for Gary lifeguards.

Sutton says he was a lifeguard for the Lake County Parks when he was in high school.

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