The man tried to evade arrest by swimming into to the ocean. Photo: Youtube//Screenshot
I’m not sure if this story is a better fit for Baywatch jokes or Bodhi jokes. The former is currently getting a series rebirth just miles away from where this all went down in Los Angeleson Thursday afternoon, and the idea of lifeguards swimming into the middle of the Pacific Ocean to arrest a felon on the run from cops is…well, I’m sure it was the exact B-plot of several episodes when Baywatch reigned in the ’90s.
Then again, few desperation moves are as iconic as Bodhi begging for one last wave at Bells beach, fresh cuffs on each wrist, cops covering every exit on the beach, and…cliffs on both sides. We all know the rationale that followed.
“It’s not like I’m gonna paddle to New Zealand.”
Whichever Hail Mary escape this felon thought he was pulling off, however, ended with an arrest.
According to KTLA, a morning foot chase through Pacific Palisades on Thursday led police and their suspect right to the place where the world-famous Sunset Boulevard ends: the Pacific Ocean. At that point, the man they were all chasing darted onto the sand, straight past a lifeguard tower, and soon after, into the Pacific Ocean. Maybe he thought he could wait them out? Or that the cops wouldn’t bother if he was in the ocean long enough. Lifeguards did follow him though, where they all reportedly sat several hundred feet out from shore and just waded.
The suspect is clearly a decent swimmer because this part of the ordeal lasted for approximately 90 minutes. Lifeguards simply bobbed on paddle boards with boats nearby while the man the police had been chasing simply treaded water the whole time. According to KTLA’s reporting, the lifeguards just waited there knowing he’d eventually get too tired to tread any longer.
That never happened. After the approximate 90-minute standoff, the man made moves for the shore, which prompted guards to get off of their boards and swim after him. He then turned around to swim away from them further out to sea, but he couldn’t outswim them at that point. The guards attached flotation devices and essentially wrestled him onto a sheriff’s boat.
