It was back to jail for a Bradenton man — but first authorities had to pluck him from the waters of Longboat Pass.
Before his arrest at 4:33 a.m. July 10, Daniel Lee Griffiths, 37, avoided officers by jumping from the Longboat Pass Bridge and swimming for an estimated 1.5 hours, according to a Longboat Key police report.
Griffiths attempted to pull an officer into the water, LBK Police Chief Pete Cumming said.
“That’s something we don’t want happening,” he added.
Griffiths then lost his grip on a structure under the bridge and the outgoing current carried him out the pass and into the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where a U.S. Coast Guard crew pulled him out. Griffiths then complied with police efforts to arrest him, Cumming said.
Griffiths was cleared by Manatee County EMS, arrested for resisting and obstructing an officer and transported to Manatee County jail.
The 12th Circuit Court pretrial services division turned down screening Griffiths for release due to probation in two prior cases, dealing with trafficking in stolen property and fraud.
He remained in custody at press time.
LBK police first encountered Griffiths at 2:25 a.m. as he walked toward a beach access on North Shore Drive. An officer advised Griffiths the beach was closed between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. According to the police report, Griffiths told police he was trying to meet friends there.
Later police saw Griffiths on a stolen bicycle and ordered him to stop. Instead, he ran behind the officer and jumped from the bridge, the police report stated.
“What this was all about boils down to — to be out at 2:30 a.m. — whether he wanted to get fresh air or commit a crime, we don’t know,” Cumming said, adding that he may have been afraid to be caught violating his probation.
“Had he just stopped and explained himself,” Cummings said, “this whole thing more than likely could’ve been avoided.”