Florida Man Flees Traffic Stop, Jumps Into Algae-Filled Canal

A Florida man tried to flee a traffic stop and jumped into an algae-filled canal, forcing police to rescue him.

The Cape Coral Police Department released footage of the escape and rescue from the canal.

Abraham Duarte, 22, was pulled over for speeding, according to the Naples News. Duarte stopped his car, fled on foot, and then jumped into the canal.

Duarte “was overcome with the algae in the water after he swallowed some,” a police news release said, according to the publication. He swam back to the shore and was pulled out by police.

Officers then sprayed him with a hose to clean off the algae covering his body.

The publication said that several vials of THC oil were found in his vehicle.

Blue-green algae can make people sick or cause skin irritation. He was taken to the hospital to treat the effects of algae, and after he was released, he was booked into the Lee County Jail.

He is charged with possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and resisting an officer, according to the report.

Duarte told The Washington Post that he wasn’t thinking about the algae when he jumped into the canal.

“There was too much adrenaline,” Duarte said. “I had a panic attack.”

“He lives in Ocala, so there’s a chance that he didn’t realize how bad the water was,” Allan Kolak, a spokesman for the Cape Coral Police Department, said. “Once he got in, he was saying, ‘This is no good.’”

“It was in his eyes, in his ears, all across his face, all over his body. It was everywhere,” Kolak said. “It’s pretty nasty stuff.”