Yesterday afternoon, a man in Surf City, NC performed one of the most daring escapes the small town has ever seen.
According to Wilmington’s WWAY, 20-year-old Zachary Kingsbury was stopped by police at around 4:15 pm yesterday afternoon during a routine traffic stop. When police noticed a controlled substance in the car, Zachary started running.
He ran to the ocean, dove in, and began swimming away. Police then employed a long-range drone to track him in the ocean, but after 60 minutes in the air, the drone ran out of batteries, and Zachary continued to swim.
This video from the drone shows just how far out he was;
“After 60 minutes of flight time, Kingsbury was over 4,000 feet offshore and visual contact was lost. At that point, the operation became a rescue operation,” according to a statement from the Surf City Police.
At about 7:45 p.m., North Topsail Beach Police arrested Zachary after he finally swam ashore at the Wicker Avenue beach access in North Topsail Beach – about 2 1/2 miles down the beach from where he first jumped in 3 hours earlier.
He has since been charged with resisting arrest, obstructing an officer, possession of drug paraphernalia, methamphetamine, and possession of marijuana of up to a half an ounce, according to the Surf City Police.