A man attempted to ditch the police during a high-speed chase by jumping from the top of a bridge into the river below.
According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, it reportedly all started on October 29 when deputies attempted pulling over the Bryan Gray‘s vehicle in Fort Myers, Florida, and the 34-year-old driver “sped off.” In aerial footage posted on Facebook by the office, the car suddenly swerved across the three-lane highway and crashed into the side of the guardrails on Edison Bridge and then the other side before coming to a stop.
This feels like a scene straight out of an action movie!
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Despite the van looking completely totaled, Gray immediately hopped out of the driver seats and made his way towards the bridge’s railing. He climbed over it and stood above the Caloosahatchee River. When police pulled up and ran out of their cars to apprehend him, he dove off the bridge and into the waters below. TooFab reports the bridge was more than 50 feet tall. Whoa…
Footage showed the suspect swimming underneath the bridge as Fort Myers Police Department’s Marine Unit rushed to grab him. Gray was eventually pulled out of the river and arrested before being taken to a local hospital for treatment. It is unclear if he suffered any serious injuries — or really any wounds at all at the moment. Following the arrest, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement:
“While he may not have earned a gold medal for his high dive, Gray did find himself in hot water when he earned pending charges of Grand Theft Auto and Fleeing and Eluding.”
According to Fox4Now, the owner of the car is the man’s aunt Marcella Chacon, who had been helping him out recently. She told the outlet:
“That night, he was come over, take a shower, get a warm meal because he said he was homeless, then he does what he did.”
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She apparently didn’t realize the van had been missing until she received a text message from her husband:
“He told me that the vehicle was missing and I told him immediately to call the cops.”
Clearly, the police had no trouble finding Gray. You can take a look at the aerial footage (below):
[Image via Lee County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook]
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