Fleeing Mason Co. suspect caught after swimming across lake
LAKE KOKANEE, Wash. - A fleeing suspect escaped from law enforcement officials by swimming across a lake Friday night in Mason County after he and the deputy who was chasing him slid down an embankment and into the lake in the darkness. The suspect was later found and arrested.
The deputy sustained a minor head wound and scratches in the incident.
The drama unfolded at about 9 p.m. Friday when two sheriff's deputies pulled over a vehicle with four people inside it near 40 N. Golden Eye Place near Lake Kokanee, said Dean Byrd, chief deputy with the Mason County Sheriff's Office.
One of the men in the vehicle, who has an outstanding arrest warrant, jumped out and ran from the scene, Byrd said. One of the deputies then chased after the fleeing suspect on foot.
As they were running in the darkness, both the deputy and the suspect tumbled over an embankment and started sliding down toward the lake, about 300 feet below.
About halfway down, the deputy caught up with the suspect. There was a brief struggle and then they slid the rest of the way down into the lake.
The deputy suffered a minor head wound and was "pretty scratched up," Byrd said. He was taken to the hospital to be checked out.
Meanwhile, the fleeing suspect, later identified as Justice Cloud, was able to swim across the lake and hide out in the woods.
A search plane and helicopter were launched to search for him. Deputies and Washington State Patrol troopers also searched the area on foot.
Some time later, the State Patrol plane spotted the suspect using its infrared thermal imaging camera. Law enforcement personnel moved in and arrested the man.
The deputy sustained a minor head wound and scratches in the incident.
The drama unfolded at about 9 p.m. Friday when two sheriff's deputies pulled over a vehicle with four people inside it near 40 N. Golden Eye Place near Lake Kokanee, said Dean Byrd, chief deputy with the Mason County Sheriff's Office.
One of the men in the vehicle, who has an outstanding arrest warrant, jumped out and ran from the scene, Byrd said. One of the deputies then chased after the fleeing suspect on foot.
As they were running in the darkness, both the deputy and the suspect tumbled over an embankment and started sliding down toward the lake, about 300 feet below.
About halfway down, the deputy caught up with the suspect. There was a brief struggle and then they slid the rest of the way down into the lake.
The deputy suffered a minor head wound and was "pretty scratched up," Byrd said. He was taken to the hospital to be checked out.
Meanwhile, the fleeing suspect, later identified as Justice Cloud, was able to swim across the lake and hide out in the woods.
A search plane and helicopter were launched to search for him. Deputies and Washington State Patrol troopers also searched the area on foot.
Some time later, the State Patrol plane spotted the suspect using its infrared thermal imaging camera. Law enforcement personnel moved in and arrested the man.
The deputies of Mason County are a tough bunch, and am afraid much more will be asked of them in the future as perps are getting rougher with the times. Stay Strong officers, you've a great leader in Sheriff Salisbury and his whole staff.
They fell three hundred feet into the lake? Very resilient to say the least.
 @Tolly371 Must have been a long steep slope and maybe they rolled down the hill. Anybody out there know this lake and shore?
we call it the lower lake its below lake cushman , very cold because it from the bottom of the big lake ,it has steep wooded hills all around no real shore more like an edge, the kid he was after is from a family of low lifes from hoodsport ,even his father died in prison ,