A Palm Coast man fled from Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies July 3 by jumping into “a snake-and-alligator infested canal,” according to the sheriff’s office.
He then refused to exit the canal and appeared to alternate between treading water and doing the backstroke in the murky water, according to deputies and body camera video.
After about an hour, two deputies waded into the water and dragged him out as the man struggled to break free, according to the sheriff’s office and the video.
Ryan McMinn, 47, of Palm Coast, was arrested on two charges of battery on a law enforcement officer, a felony. McMinn was being held at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility July 7 on a $5,000 bond.
“Battering a deputy sheriff will guarantee you the loss of your freedom and a trip to jail,” said Sheriff Rick Staly in a press release. “These deputies went into the water to rescue this guy, and he responded by fighting them. I commend our deputies for their willingness to get in a canal that usually (has) snakes and gators and pull this guy to safety before he drowned.”
McMinn found lying shirtless in front of Wadsworth Elementary
McMinn had been the subject of a welfare check, the sheriff’s office stated. A deputy found him shirtless, lying on the ground in front of Wadsworth Elementary School in Palm Coast. The deputy tried to check on McMinn but he ran off.
A few minutes later, a resident on Whittle Place called the emergency communications center to report a man “crawling around in their backyard and trying to climb the side of their house,” the sheriff’s office stated.
Deputies found McMinn behind the home, near a canal. They asked him if he was OK and if he needed help. When he saw the deputies, McMinn dashed into the canal, according to the sheriff’s office.
Palm Coast man does backstroke for about an hour while deputies follow on shore
McMinn started swimming. But he refused to come out despite multiple orders from deputies, the sheriff’s office stated.
He swam for about an hour, according to a sheriff’s office spokesman.
Deputies saw signs that McMinn was becoming exhausted, so they waded into the canal to pull him out of the water.
But McMinn pushed and pulled against the deputies to try and escape, the sheriff’s office stated. He “tried to grab a deputy’s head to push it under the water, then tried to grab the neck of the other deputy,” the sheriff’s office stated.
Deputies gained control of McMinn and dragged him to shore.
Flagler County Fire Rescue treated him at the scene and he was taken to AdventHealth Palm Coast, where he was treated and medically cleared.
Then he was taken to jail.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Watch Flagler deputies drag fleeing Palm Coast man out of canal
Reporting by Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
