Man defies warning not to swim in Gulf of Mexico and gets arrested, Florida cops say
A bodyboarding enthusiast found himself being chased across a Northwest Florida beach by cops after he ignored dangerous surf warnings and ventured into the Gulf of Mexico, Bay County officials say.
It happened Tuesday, June 20, in Panama City Beach, and video shows Bay County deputies were applauded by beachgoers when they caught their suspect in the dunes.
Double Red Flags were posted on the beach at the time, a warning that swimming was prohibited due to dangerous surf and deadly rip currents. Panama City Beach is in the Panhandle, about 140 miles east of Pensacola.
“Deputies responded to Beach Access 85 to find a man in the water with a boogie board,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
“Swimming conditions in the water were too dangerous for anyone, even with a Boogie Board. ... Deputies used their public address systems to alert the man to the danger. He refused to leave the water. The BCSO Air Unit hovered over the man in the water but again, he refused to leave the surf.”
Boogie boarding, also known as bodyboarding, “is the art of riding waves in a prone position, close to the surface of the ocean water,” according to Surfer Today.
The suspect came ashore after 25 minutes and tried to outrun deputies through “the large crowd that had gathered to watch,” officials said.
“Deputies quickly caught up and, though the man fought, he was taken into custody,” officials said.
The 38-year-old suspect, a local man, not a tourist, was “charged with violation of double red flag ordinance, obstruction of justice, and resisting and battery on a law enforcement officer,” officials said.
The arrest came just days after an Alabama man drowned off a Bay County beach while attempting to rescue his daughter from a rip current, McClatchy News reported. His daughter survived.
Swimming in the Gulf of Mexico is prohibited during Double Red Flag conditions, and offenders are subject to arrest and fines of $500 for the first offense. The Bay County Sheriff’s Office says bodyboarding is also prohibited, and “only those tethered to a surfboard can enter the water during Double Red Flags.”
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