First responders rescued a man on a rubber raft in the Ohio River during a severe thunderstorm Thursday afternoon. As WNIN’s John Gibson reports, after the rescue the man was arrested:
Employees from the Port of Evansville reported that a man wearing a hard hat and work vest stole a large Rubber Ducky raft and was floating down the Ohio River.
They said the man was using a shovel to paddle down the river.
EPD Sgt. Anna Gray says Evansville Marine Services employees put a tugboat on the river and tried to help the man, but Gray says he kept shooing them away.
Evansville firefighters and police boarded the tugboat and caught up to the man, pulled him from the water, and returned to the dock.
He was identified as Jeffery Chumley.
The EPD says Chumley was taken to a hospital for medical clearance and then taken to the Vanderburgh County jail on a charge of Theft.
Sgt. Gray thanked Evansville Marine Services and Evansville firefighters for their teamwork.
She says even during a thunderstorm and less than ideal water conditions, no one was injured during the rescue.