Cape Coral Police Department(CAPE CORAL, Fla.) — Sometimes you get the best of algae, and sometimes it gets the best of you.
An alleged felon in Florida was felled by the simplistic, photosynthetic organisms on Saturday evening when he jumped in a canal and tried to swim away from police in Cape Coral.
Abraham Duarte did not make it far.
The Cape Coral Police Department released body cam footage of a brief chase between one of their officers and Duarte, who allegedly jumped out of his car and tried to take off on foot when police attempted to stop him for speeding. The video showed the officer chase Duarte behind an apartment building, where he jumped into one of the many canals bordering the Caloosahatchee River in the town just southwest of Fort Myers on the state’s west coast.
The police officer can be heard shouting “Get out of the water!” in the video as the suspect struggled to stay afloat.
The officer continued to circle the canal as backup arrived and Duarte eventually got smothered by the algae.
“I’m going to die!” Duarte shouted as he struggled against the algae. “Can you touch the bottom?” the officer asked.
Duarte said “no,” but the officer responded, “Hold on, we’re going to throw you a line. You’re standing on the bottom right now; I can see.”
“You’re going to make me very angry if I have to come in and get you,” the officer said as Duarte begins cursing repeatedly.
Eventually, the officers pulled Duarte out of the canal — covered in green algae — and arrest him. Police rinsed him off with a hose before loading him into a cop car.
“Duarte was overcome with the algae in the water after he swallowed some and quickly began swimming back to the original officer that stopped him,” Cape Coral police said in a statement.
When officers returned to his vacated car, they allegedly found seven vials of THC oil.
Duarte was charged with possession of a controlled substance and resisting arrest without violence. He was released from Lee County Jail Sunday on $17,500 bond.
He is due back in court on Oct. 3.
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