INDIAN RIVER COUNTY Deputies, firefighters and wildlife officers entered alligator-and-snake-infested marshes and had to dig their boats free from mud several times during a six-hour recovery effort that started as a search for survivors of a nighttime airboat crash.
Turns out, the need for a search and recovery was fabricated, rescue officials said.
The massive effort to reach an injured boater, and possibly to search for a missing woman, led to the arrest of a man who authorities said called 911 multiple times, faking an emergency for an urgent response.
In reality, his boat was stuck in a shallow, muddy area at Blue Cypress Lake, law enforcement authorities said.
Derek Howard, 44, of the 9000 block of 101st Court in Vero Lake Estates, was found uninjured, “in good health,” his air boat said to be operable and upright with only minor damage, according to his arrest affidavit.
He was charged with giving false information to law enforcement officers regarding a missing person and using 911 or E-911 for a false alarm or information, according...
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