Wanted Woman Refuses to Leave Frigid Creek after Fleeing Va. Deputies
By Bailey Aldridge
Source The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
A wanted woman in Virginia refused to leave a frigid creek she went into to escape deputies, officials said.
At 1 a.m. on Nov. 7, deputies responded to a call about a disturbance involving the woman on Barge Lane in Stafford County, according to a news release from the Stafford County Sheriff's Office. Officials said there were active warrants for her in the county and that she was also wanted in nearby Prince William County.
When the woman heard deputies were on the way, she "disappeared into the night," the sheriff's office said.
The sheriff's office said Barge Lane backs up to Aquia Creek, which is a tributary of the Potomac River, and that deputies "believed they had a natural barrier" to prevent the woman from getting too far.
But as they were searching the shoreline, they saw legs and feet kicking in the water, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies ordered the woman to get out of the creek — but she refused, the sheriff's office said.
Eventually, deputies "explained the risk of hypothermia" to her, the sheriff's office said, and she "doggy paddled to a dock and was placed in custody."
"Deputies retrieved blankets to warm her up, as the air temperature was a cool 40 degrees," the sheriff's office said. "While not at the temperature of the water during the Titanic sinking, the Potomac had dipped into the low 60's."
The sheriff's office said the woman was served the warrants, which included "revocation of suspended sentences" and non-compliance with The Commission on Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program.
She was being held at the Rappahannock Regional Jail without bond, according to the sheriff's office.
No other information about the incident had been released as of Nov. 8.
Stafford County is about 68 miles north of Richmond, Virginia, and about 44 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.
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