I was harassed by creepy men at the pool. Then one of them started drowning

Most people were supportive saying those men deserved worse than what they got. But some trolls were saying I was asking for trouble by swimming alone.

“If I’d worn a normal bikini like other women they wouldn’t have bothered me.” One comment said

I closed the browser and turned off my phone. The next day I forced myself to leave the house for a meeting with a victim advocate at the courthouse.

She was an older woman with kind eyes who walked me through everything that would happen next. She helped me fill out paperwork for emergency protective orders against all four men.

She explained that the orders would keep them from coming within a hundred yards of me. She warned that the whole legal process could take months, maybe even a year if it went to trial.

She gave me a folder full of resources for assault survivors and her direct phone number. Three days passed in a blur of not sleeping and barely eating.

Confronting the Past

I was at the grocery store trying to remember what normal people bought for food when someone called my name. Fourth Friend was standing by the produce section looking smaller without his drunk friends around him.

“He started walking toward me saying he needed to talk that this was all a misunderstanding” He said

I backed away and told him he was violating the protective order.

“He kept coming saying I was ruining their lives over nothing that beer could have died because of me” He said

I ran to customer service and told them a man with a restraining order was following me. The security guard walked over and Fourth Friend tried to explain he just wanted to apologize, but the guard wasn’t having it.

He escorted Fourth Friend out while I gave a statement to the manager. The victim advocate called me that night to say Fourth Friend had been arrested for violating the order and would spend at least one night in jail.

The therapist’s office smelled like vanilla candles and had those white noise machines that were supposed to be calming. She specialized in assault trauma and spent our first session just letting me talk about what happened.

When I mentioned saving Beer Gut, she helped me understand that my actions didn’t mean I forgave him or that what he did was okay. She explained that I acted on instinct and training, not because he deserved saving.

We scheduled twice weekly sessions and she gave me exercises to help with the panic attacks. Detective Pots called a few days later with news that made my stomach drop in a different way.

Two other women had filed reports about the same group of men at different pools around the county. One woman said Flame had grabbed her chest while she was swimming laps and another said Gold had followed her to her car making threats.

The detective said their pattern of behavior would strengthen the case significantly. She was working with the prosecutor’s office to consolidate the charges.

The prosecutor called the next morning to discuss the charges they were filing. Beer Gut would face felony assault and battery charges because of the severity of the attack, and the head injury he caused himself didn’t change that.

Gold’s underwater grabbing qualified as sexual battery which meant he’d have to register as a sex offender if convicted. Flame and Fourth Friend would get misdemeanor assault charges but could face jail time.

The prosecutor said with the video evidence and multiple victims they had a strong case. Two weeks after that call I stood outside the pool gates with my swim bag feeling like it weighed a hundred pounds.

My hands shook as I pushed through the entrance during senior swim hours when Jonas promised it would be quiet. The chlorine smell hit me and my stomach turned, but I kept walking toward the locker room.

Three older women were already swimming slow laps in the far lanes and a staff member I didn’t recognize stood by the shallow end watching. Jonas appeared from his office and walked over without saying anything, just nodded and pointed to lane four where he’d personally put up new lane dividers.

I changed into my suit in a bathroom stall instead of the open area and had to sit on the bench for five minutes before I could make myself walk out to the pool deck. The water looked different somehow, darker maybe, and I kept seeing that cloud of blood even though the pool had been drained and cleaned twice since then.

I got in slowly at the shallow end instead of diving and started with easy breath stroke, counting each stroke to keep my mind focused. After ten laps my breathing got tight and I had to stop, gripping the wall while Jonas pretended not to watch from his chair.

I managed five more laps before the shaking got too bad and climbed out, but at least I’d gotten back in the water. That same afternoon my phone rang with a blocked number.

“Saying she was Flame’s wife and needed to talk to me about dropping the charges” A woman’s voice said

“She said they had three kids and he’d lose his job if this went to trial that I was destroying their whole family over a misunderstanding” She said

My victim advocate had warned me this might happen and told me to hang up immediately and document the call. I texted the advocate right away and she called back within minutes.

“Saying she’d handle the response through proper legal channels” She said

She sent a formal letter to Flame’s lawyer making it clear that any further contact attempts would be considered witness intimidation. The lawyer wrote back claiming his client’s wife had acted without his knowledge, but we all knew that was garbage.

Justice in the Courtroom

A month crawled by with nightmares and therapy sessions before the preliminary hearing date arrived at the courthouse downtown. I wore my only business suit and sat in the hallway watching other cases go in and out while my stomach churned.

When they called our case number I walked into the courtroom and saw all four of them sitting at the defense table in their cheap suits. My whole body started shaking and I had to grab the witness chair arms to steady myself as I sat down.

The prosecutor asked me to describe what happened that day at the pool in my own words. I talked for twenty minutes about the harassment and assault, having to stop twice when my voice cracked.

Minnie testified next, playing her video for the judge and explaining what she saw from her lane. Three other witnesses also took the stand including the teenage lifeguard who admitted he should have done more to stop them.

Beer Gut’s lawyer stood up and argued that his client’s head injury was punishment enough for any wrongdoing. He claimed Beer had suffered permanent damage and would need months of rehabilitation just to return to normal life.

The judge looked at him over her glasses.

“Head injuries don’t erase assault charges especially with video evidence this clear.” The judge said

She reviewed the footage on her laptop, her face getting harder with each replay of them grabbing me. The defense tried arguing it was just horseplay between adults but the judge shut that down fast.

She bound all four defendants over for trial on their various charges and maintained the restraining orders. After the hearing I started going to the pool at different times, never the same schedule twice in a row.

Early morning one day, late evening the next, trying to rebuild my comfort in the water. Some of the regular swimmers recognized me from the news coverage and would nod quietly or swim in the lane next to mine without talking.

One older man always made sure to be there when I swam, never said anything but I knew he was keeping watch. A woman who swam masters workouts told me she was proud of me for coming back and not letting them take swimming away from me.

These small gestures helped more than any of them probably realized. Two months into the legal process Gold’s lawyer called the prosecutor to discuss a plea deal.

He wanted to avoid trial and the publicity that would come with it especially the sex offender registration requirement. After three days of negotiations he agreed to plead guilty to sexual battery in exchange for no jail time.

He got two years probation, mandatory counseling, and had to register as a sex offender for ten years. The prosecutor called to explain why she accepted the deal.

“Saying it guaranteed a conviction without putting me through a trial” She said

I understood but still felt sick thinking about him walking free even with the registration requirement. Meanwhile Jonas had been working with the pool’s board of directors on new safety policies based on our case.

They installed emergency call buttons at each lane that connected directly to the manager’s office and local police. Staff training now included mandatory sessions on recognizing and stopping harassment before it escalated.

They posted new signs about zero tolerance for inappropriate behavior with specific examples of what wasn’t allowed. Jonas named the new policies after the case number instead of using my name which I appreciated.