What started as a traffic stop ended as an ocean search in Surf City, after a suspect jumped into the ocean and kept swimming.
What started as a traffic stop ended as an ocean search Wednesday in Surf City, North Carolina, after a suspect stopped by police jumped into the ocean and started swimming.
Zachary Kingsbury, 20, was apparently a good swimmer, too, because it took three hours before Surf City Police could find and arrest him, reported media outlets in eastern N. C.
He was reportedly nearly a mile off shore when a drone spotted him heading toward North Topsail Beach, outlets report.
TV station WCTI says the ordeal began at about 4: 15 Wednesday at a traffic stop on North Shore Drive. Officers reported they saw suspicious contraband on the passenger’s side of the vehicle. When officers asked the two men in the car to get out, Kingsbury jumped out, ran to the beach, dived into the Atlantic Ocean and started swimming, the station reported.
The Surf City Police Department then called in a drone to monitor Kinsbury’s progress in the water and after an hour, he was about 4,000 feet from shore and visual contact was lost, reported WECT.
WWAY attributed the loss of contact to the fact that the drone ran out of battery power.
Finally, around 7: 45 p.m.. North Topsail Beach Police arrested Kingsbury at the Wicker Avenue beach access in North Topsail Beach. Some stations reported he had to be convinced to come to shore.
The search included Pender County emergency officials, the U. S. Coast Guard, the Surf City Fire Department and North Topsail Police Department, media outlets reported.
Kingsbury is currently in the Pender County Jail. Records show he is from Lynnwood in Washington state. He is charged with resisting arrest, obstructing an officer, possession of drug paraphernalia, methamphetamine, and possession of marijuana of up to a half an ounce, jail records show.
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