Stolen Truck Suspect Fails To Elude Police In Lake

DAVIE (CBS4) - A suspected car thief jumped into a South Florida lake Monday while trying to pull off a quick and watery getaway. The man had allegedly just stolen a bottle of wine and a pick-up truck from a gas station but his escape didn't go quite as planned, instead the accused crook was left treading water and part of his getaway attempt was caught on surveillance video.

It all started when the guy stole a bottle of wine then a truck from a Race Track gas station located on the 27-hundred block of Davie Road. However, when officers quickly arrived on the scene, the suspect tried to escape in the truck and in the process crashed. Then he ran.

Surveillance video shows him running through Kovac's Automative and he's not alone, a couple of mechanics can be seen running after him.

"I was already standing. He was running through here and I was already standing here waiting for him. I got here much quicker than he did from cutting through the shop and he stood here and I was like, 'hey there's nowhere to go' and he just looked at me and looked behind him and jumped over the fence," explained a mechanic named David who ran over the suspect.

When the suspect jumped into the lake, he had nowhere to go but down, literally. He peeled off his clothes because they were weighing him down. He refused to come in so Davie police launched a rescue boat and threw him a life ring. Eventually, they hoisted him into the rescue boat, exhausted from treading water.

Witnesses said they thought the man would either drown or become gator bait because they say there are a lot of alligators in the lake.

So far, police have not released the man's identity.

CBS4's Ted Scouten contributed to this report.