The video, recorded by the toddler’s nanny, shows the instructor drop the child while he cries out.
EL CAJON, Calif. — An El Cajon mother is outraged after she says a San Diego area swimming instructor was too rough with her two-year-old son during swim lessons.
The video, recorded by the toddler’s nanny, shows the swimming instructor drop the child under water several times as the toddler cries out.
It’s a video that Mahshid Wadeea, the child’s mother, says haunts her.
The video shows her two-year-old son Adam thrown into the water by his swimming instructor after throwing a fit and hitting his teacher as he cries.
“I’m distraught. I’m still distraught. I’m still on a state of shock, because we trust him to teach our son how to swim and that’s the extent of it, not to drown him. My son is terrified to go into the water,” said Wadeea.
Wadeea who’s nine months pregnant and on bed rest, says she recently signed her son up for swimming lessons for peace of mind since the family has a pool in their backyard.
“We have friends that have used him in the past and for me, it was really important to get him in before this baby comes so that I can have that peace of mind. And we were really excited,” added Wadeea.
Wadeea says her nanny has been taking Adam to the lessons while she stays home.
“His first day was August 8. And Mr. John has this 10 day 10 minutes approximately philosophy and he’s supposed to teach them a life skill that you know, if they were to accidentally fall into the pool, they’ll be able to kind of paddle to the corner and grab the wall,” said Wadeea.
Wadeea says she always asked her nanny to record the lessons to see the progress Adam made, but a week into the lessons (day 7), and she says was shocked when she watched the latest video.
“We sent him there to learn how to swim. We didn’t send him there to learn boot camp or military or discipline or what approach he was taking. It’s not right for our son. So we’re distraught I’m still shaken over it to be honest,” added Wadeea.
CBS 8 reached out to instructor John Ruffu, who’s seen in the video, he runs ‘Swim2John,’ swimming instruction lessons in the San Diego area. Ruffu has nearly 20 years of experience in the business. His program has stellar online reviews.
He didn’t want to go on camera, but did provide a statement to CBS 8, in which he says, he never disciplined the child, instead he says dropping the child is a part of his program, saying: “drop drills are a major portion of what we do to prepare the kids. I’m right there the whole time, we do it as a training. And that is what was going on, just a freak coincidence of timing, which happened to coincide with him hitting.”
Ruffu has been teaching lessons since 2003 and says what’s seen in the video, is nothing out of the ordinary.
For Wadeea, she says what angers her is that he can be heard telling Adam not to hit him in the video, which according to her, shows he dropped her son in the water in order to discipline him.
“My hearts broken. He’s defenseless. He’s two and a half years old. It’s not like he can say help me out. He’s learning how to swim. He can’t bring himself up afloat. He comes out of the video coughing and swallowing water and choking and he’s still kept them in the water,” added Wadeea.
Wadeea says she has since pulled Adam out of the swimming lessons and has been reimbursed.
The video of the lesson, submitted to CBS 8, was taken by the toddler’s nanny: