Man was trapped in Bradenton creek for two days. His cries for help were finally heard

A 44-year-old homeless man became trapped for two days in about 2 feet of water in Bowlees Creek on Nov. 18 and would have likely died had it not been for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

The unidentified man told deputies he had entered the creek to bathe and because of a previous leg injury found himself unable to get out of the water. Dressed only in a pair of underwear, the man spent the next two days in the water before deputies found him at about 1:30 a.m.

Deputies responded to a 911 call about someone yelling for help behind Mike’s Mini Mart at 57th Avenue and 15th Street East and met with the caller who told deputies it sounded like it was coming from the nearby woods.

On a video released by the sheriff’s office, deputies are heard yelling out to the victim and were able to locate him following the sound of his voice.

Deputy Dwight Roberts was the first to locate the man in the creek underneath a small railroad bridge.

The man said he had been yelling for help since getting trapped two days prior.

Deputies lifted the man out of the water where it was noticed that his waterlogged skin was in danger of sliding right off his body.

EMS was contacted but due to the remote area of where the man was found, a stretcher could not be brought to the location. Roberts, along with deputies Tara Burge, Ryan Emkey and Conner Gulash made a modified stretcher out of a blanket and carried the man about 250 yards down the railroad track, where EMS and Deputy Scott Fisher were able to get the man into a wheelchair a Good Samaritan resident loaned emergency personnel.

Deputies say the man was taken to an area hospital, suffering from early stages of hypothermia.

This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 12:14 PM.