Nasty Canal Algae Bloom Catches A Drug Suspect In Florida: Video

CAPE CORAL, FL — It’s not often that something good comes out of a thick, aquatic life-choking algae bloom. But police in a Florida town could call it their secret weapon after a suspect swallowed a mouthful of the nasty brew and turned back from a desperate swim across a murky canal to elude a cop who was chasing him.

Police in Cape Coral, located southwest of Fort Myers on Florida’s west coast, released bodycam footage of suspect Abraham Duarte’s alleged escape attempt after a police officer pulled him over for speeding Saturday. The video shows a hot foot pursuit behind an apartment building until the suspect jumped into one of the multiple canals that border the Caloosahatchee River.

“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,” police said in the release.

He didn’t surrender willingly, according to the bodycam video.

“Get out of the water!” the officer shouted as Duarte, 22, struggled to stay afloat in the algae that was smothering him.

“I’m going to die!” he shouted.

“Can you touch the bottom?” the officer asked.

Duarte said he couldn’t, but the officer corrected him.

“You’re standing on the bottom right now,” he said. “I can see.”

When Duarte began cursing, the officer warned: “You're going to make me very angry if I have to come in and get you.”

An algae-covered Duarte was pulled from the canal and arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance — police said they found seven vials of THC oil in the vehicle Duarte fled — and resisting arrest without violence.

A man in the area lent his garden hose so police could rinse Duarte off before loading him in the cruiser for the trip to the Lee County Jail, according to a news release. Though he swallowed some of the algae, a local hospital cleared his release, police said.

Image and video via Cape Coral Police Department