- Flagler County deputies responded to a welfare check on a shirtless man, later identified as Ryan McMinn, near an elementary school.
- After fleeing into a canal known for alligators, McMinn resisted rescue attempts by deputies and attacked them.
- McMinn was charged with two felony counts of battery on law enforcement and is held on a $5,000 bond.
PALM COAST, FLORIDA — Just over a month after a Miami-area family was found dead inside their Doral home in a case that left an entire South Florida community shaken, Florida is back in the headlines again — this time with a Fourth of July weekend story that involves a shirtless man, an alligator canal, and two deputies who jumped in to save a stranger's life only to be choked and dragged underwater in return.
It Started With a Welfare Check Outside an Elementary School
On the morning of July 3, deputies from the Flagler County Sheriff's Office responded to a welfare check near Wadsworth Elementary School in Palm Coast after someone reported a man lying shirtless on the ground in front of the building. McMinn had been the subject of a welfare check in the past.
When a deputy approached McMinn to check on him, McMinn did not wait to find out what the officer wanted. He ran.
A few minutes later, the Flagler County Emergency Communications Center received a call from a resident on Whittle Place. A man was crawling through their backyard and trying to climb the side of their house.
It was McMinn.
Deputies located him near a canal behind the residence and asked if he needed help. His answer was to sprint straight into the canal and start swimming.
Nobody Was Going to Just Leave Him There
Deputies ordered McMinn out of the water multiple times. He refused every command, treading water and swimming further into the canal while officers followed along the bank.
Bodycam footage shows one deputy trying to reason with him from the shore.
"What's your name?" the deputy asks as McMinn swims backward, keeping his eyes on the officers.
"You getting tired?" the deputy says later.
And then: "We're not going to stop following you down the canal."
McMinn began showing visible signs of exhaustion. The canal behind the residence in Palm Coast is known to contain both alligators and snakes. Letting him stay in the water was not an option.
Two deputies made the call to go in after him.
He Fought the People Trying to Save His Life
The moment the deputies entered the water, McMinn stopped trying to escape and started trying to hurt them.
According to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, McMinn grabbed one deputy's head and tried to push it underwater. He then grabbed the neck of the second deputy. Both attacks were deliberate attempts to overpower the officers and break free.
The deputies managed to fight back, gain control of McMinn, and drag him to shore.
Flagler County Fire Rescue treated him at the scene. He was then transported to AdventHealth Palm Coast, where doctors treated him and medically cleared him for booking.
McMinn was arrested on two felony counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and transported to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility. As of July 7, he is being held on a $5,000 bond.
The Sheriff Had a Few Words
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly did not hold back in his statement following McMinn's arrest.
"Battering a Deputy Sheriff will guarantee you the loss of your freedom and a trip to jail," Staly said. "These deputies went into the water to rescue this guy, and he responded by fighting them. I commend our deputies for their willingness to get in a canal that usually has snakes and gators and pull this guy to safety before he drowned."
The incident was one of 15 arrests made by the Flagler County Sheriff's Office during the Fourth of July holiday weekend, during which deputies handled a total of 1,310 calls for service and conducted 222 traffic stops between July 2 and July 6.
McMinn's case is among the more remarkable of those arrests — a rescue mission that turned into a criminal assault, all caught on bodycam, inside an alligator-infested canal on the Fourth of July.
To view more cases of shocking law enforcement encounters caught on camera, check out our video here:
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