A man was arrested and will be charged Friday after he dove naked into the aquarium at a Bass Pro Shop in Leeds, Alabama.
Leeds Police Chief Paul Irwin said the incident happened shortly before the store closed.
The 42-year-old man reportedly began acting erratically and intentionally drove a vehicle into a pole in the store parking lot, the chief said. The man’s family told police he suffers from mental illness.
After the crash, police said the suspect exited the vehicle, stripped his clothes off and ran into the Bass Pro Shop. Once inside, the man jumped into the aquarium.
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George Owens, 42, was arrested Thursday night after he allegedly got naked and dove into a Bass Pro Shop aquarium. (St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office)
Irwin said officers were dispatched to the store to remove the man from the fish tank. The suspect was belligerent and refused to cooperate with officers’ instructions to get out of the water.
Two Leeds officers were seen attempting to talk to the man in a video recorded by a bystander and reported by AL.com.
As the officers walked up the store stairs and approached the aquarium, the man exited the water, yelled something to the officers and then dove back into the water, the report said.
“He was very erratic and was saying a lot of nasty things to the officers,” Irwin told Fox News Digital.
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Owens faces an array of charges for disorderly conduct and public lewdness for his alleged behavior at a Bass Pro Shops in Leeds, Alabama. (Google Maps/Google Street View)
The man continued to shout at the officers before he climbed over the side of the aquarium and fell to the concrete floor below and was apparently knocked out, AL.com reported.
Officers placed the man in handcuffs, and then he awoke and attempted to struggle. Iriwn said he assaulted one of the officers with a kick.
The man was then covered by a blanket and escorted out of the store, according to AL.com.
Irwin said that as his officers attempted to place the suspect into a patrol car, the man kicked the vehicle door strongly and damaged the door frame.
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Shoppers view the aquarium display at Bass Pro Shops inside the Tsawwassen Mills mall in Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Canada, on Wednesday, February 8, 2017. (Ben Nelms/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The suspect was taken to a hospital for treatment and a mental health evaluation before he was booked into the St. Clair County Jail.
Jail Records show that George Owens, 42, of Sterrett, Alabama, was booked on Thursday at 9:39 p.m.
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Irwin said that Owens will face an array of charges including public lewdness, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, second-degree assault, two counts of criminal mischief for hitting the pole and damaging the patrol car and two counts of reckless endangerment for how he drove the vehicle.
The sheriff said Owens is likely to be released on bond.
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