A car burglary suspect jumped in a pond to escape officers, police say. He drowned
A man ran from Bradenton police officers and jumped into a retention pond. He later drowned, Police Chief Melanie Bevan said Saturday in a news release.
It happened around 4:05 a.m., when officers responded to reports of vehicles being broken into in the 5100 block of Riverside Drive E. in Bradenton.
Investigators arrived and found two suspects on the porch of an apartment and tried to detain them, according to the release.
Police arrested one man, but the other ran and then jumped into a retention pond.
Officers asked the man to get out of the pond and he refused.
He went under the water and didn’t resurface, the release said.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Drive Team went into the pond to rescue the man but discovered he’d drowned.
The investigation is ongoing.
This story was originally published May 21, 2022 at 3:57 PM.
