A man sought by Palm Beach County deputies on charges including forgery and armed robbery met a tragic end after plunging into a Lake Worth canal in a desperate bid to evade capture, resulting in his drowning.
The chain of events unfolded when detectives received a tip that the unnamed suspect was holed up in an abandoned apartment at the Oakwood Apartments, and as they closed in, he bolted and took a fatal leap into the nearby Keller canal, Terri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office (PBSO) told WPTV while the deputies tried shouting for him to give up but the man went under the water and didn't resurface, the pursuit tragically shifted from a chase to a recovery operation.
Attempts to rescue the man were swift with deputies diving into the water and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue deploying two personal watercraft and divers who scoured the water for the individual for over an hour, as per the agency-reported CBS12. Despite the efforts, the man was not immediately located until sonar equipment later pinpointed his body submerged in the canal.
