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New York Post
Florida man jumps in ocean to avoid giving cops, girlfriend his phone’s passcode: ‘You’re telling me I’m resisting’
By Richard Pollina,
2024-07-17
A Florida man, desperate for his girlfriend and cops not to access his phone, jumped into the ocean to avoid giving up his passcode and fled arrest after being grilled by police while out on a boat.
Bodycam footage from April shows two female Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) officers questioning a man — who identified himself as AJ — and his girlfriend on a boat somewhere in the waters near Key West in a YouTube video posted last week.
In the video, which has garnered over a million views, AJ argues with the officers and his girlfriend over the phone and proper identification and becomes increasingly agitated before finally jumping into the ocean.
Questioning what would happen if he just “swims away,” he then led the cops on a seven-minute pursuit back to shore before getting arrested.
The incident began when the two officers told the couple they were searching the area for a different vessel in their jurisdiction, but it happened to AJ and his girlfriend on a boat with some code violations.
The cops quickly discover that neither AJ nor his unidentified girlfriend have IDs on them, and the boat he’s operating is breaking a number of codes.
Proclaiming he did nothing wrong, he slowly becomes angered with the cops and asks them if they’re “just out here trying to catch people breaking laws on the water?”
“Obviously, we’re addressing violations because we’re cops and that’s what we do,” one of the officers replied.
As AJ becomes more agitated with the officers, they ask him if he “has a warrant” out.
“Usually, when people start acting like that, it is because they’ve got a warrant,” one of the officers tells the ticked-off boater while his girlfriend repeatedly tells him to “calm down.”
“You need to relax… you’re freaking out,” his girlfriend tells him.
Growing anxious, AJ asks the officers what will happen if he “jumps in the water and swims away.”
“I’m going to follow you,” one officer replies. “I’m telling you, you’re not free to leave.”
The video then cuts to the officers looking at a blurred-out computer screen, showing AJ had a warrant out.
As tensions peak, AJ tells the officers he will “swim home.”
“AJ, I swear to f—ing god, if you jump in that water, I will be gone tomorrow,” his girlfriend threatens.
She then asks her boyfriend to unlock his phone so she can get his boss’s phone number.
“What is your password for your phone,” she demands of AJ while he argues with the police.
AJ then moves to the back corner of the boat, telling the cops he’s not going to “jail today.”
His girlfriend then gets in his face with his phone in her hand, again telling him to unlock it so she can help.
Not ready to go to jail or give his girlfriend access to his device, AJ jumps into the water.
The officers then try getting him back into the boat to arrest him, but AJ insists he’s “not resisting,” all while his girlfriend continues to demand his phone’s passcode.
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