Police in northern Minnesota used drones, airboats and an amphibious vehicle to apprehend a drunken-driving suspect who fled arrest Monday and hid in the cattails and mud of the Otter Tail River.
An officer in Frazee, Minn., was conducting a sobriety test when the potentially impaired suspect took off running. The suspect fled, even after the officer attempted to use a taser to subdue him, and reached the river, according to a news release from the Frazee Police Department.
Drones were deployed overhead to try to find the 28-year-old suspect after he refused requests to leave the river and instead camouflaged himself with mud and cattail reeds. The Star Tribune does not typically name suspects until they are formally charged.
The search grew to include personnel from the Detroit Lakes Police Department, Becker County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota State Patrol, Essentia EMS and Frazee Rescue. Airboats from Becker County and the White Earth Police Department were used in the search along with an amphibious rescue vehicle from Otter Tail County.
The suspect hid in the reeds for “several hours,” according to the release, before searchers found him around 9 p.m. Monday. It took about an hour to arrest the man, who would not cooperate with authorities and get into the boat, according to police. He was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, obstruction of justice and violating a felony court order, the release stated.
