It’s been two years since Shad Gaspard, unfortunately, passed away after drowning when he was caught in a riptide. Now, the Shad Gaspard Foundation has started a petition calling on Los Angeles beaches to be made safer.
See the full description for the petition below:
As many of you already know, on May 17th, 2020, Shad went to the beach with his family. As he and our son, Aryeh, went into the water, they were caught by a riptide.
Shad was able to assure Aryeh’s safety, however, he unfortunately was not able to ensure his own, and ultimately drowned.
This was a tragic event that could have been easily avoided had the proper flags been placed in order to inform beach goers of the dangerous water conditions.
Prior to Shad arriving to the beach that day, there had already been 456 rescues made just that weekend alone.
However, it was not apparent when entering the beach that any kind of dangerous water conditions existed due to the fact that no Safety Flags had been placed.We are now, as a family, asking the city of Los Angeles to do its due diligence and place Safety Flags on the beach where they can be visible to all beach goers.
We want to help ensure that no other families suffer the unimaginable pain of losing a loved one like we have.
We are asking for warning flags to be placed on the beaches of Venice, Dockweiler State Beach, Sunset Beach, Marina Beach, Mother’s Beach, Play Del Rey Beach, Pacific Ocean Beach, Will Rogers State Beach, and Santa Monica Beach.
Shad Gaspard was honored with The Warrior Award at the 2022 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony.