‘Drowning criminal’ rescued by emergency crews north of Calgary: RCMP
Posted Aug 16, 2024 2:51 pm.
Mounties north of Calgary say emergency crews recently rescued a man who mistakenly thought he had outstanding warrants and jumped in a lake to avoid getting arrested.
Officers were called to the Dodds Lake area of Innisfail on Thursday night for reports of a suspicious man going through back yards.
Innisfail RCMP say the suspect saw a resident he thought was a plain-clothes officer and jumped into the lake to avoid being arrested. When police arrived they saw the man bobbing up and down in the water.
Officers tried to get him to swim to shore, but the man allegedly yelled back “that he had warrants and he would rather drown than go back to jail.”
RCMP say he was in the water for around 30 minutes when they called fire and EMS to help. Fire crews used a rescue boat to try and get the man from the water.
“When he was located, the male refused to get into the boat due to his outstanding warrants,” reads a release from RCMP.
The suspect finally agreed to get in the boat after complaining about feeling dizzy and getting leg cramps. He was brought to shore and was assessed by paramedics.
It turned out he had no outstanding warrants, according to RCMP. The man was angry after learning this and reportedly told police he had ”done all that for nothing”.
A 25-year-old Innisfail resident has been charged with failing to comply with a 24-hour court ordered curfew.
He has since been released and will appear in court in Red Deer in September.
