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- A Coast Guard rescue swimmer rescued a man after a boat he was piloting at the mouth of the Columbia River was overturned by a large wave.
- The man, later identified as Jericho Labonte, was wanted by the police for a bizarre fish dumping incident in the house featured in the classic movie “The Goonies.”
- The hospital had already released Labonte when police saw Coast Guard photos and video and realized it was the same person they covered on security cameras at the Goonies’ home leaving the dead fish on the porch.
SEATTLE – A man rescued by a Coast Guard rescue swimmer at the mouth of the Columbia River Friday after the boat he was piloting was overturned by a large wave is wanted for a freak incident that police say left a dead fish in Astoria, Oregon, home of the 1985 classic movie “The Goonies.” is
Authorities had been searching for the man since Wednesday, when an acquaintance alerted them to a video posted on social media of him releasing fish at home by himself and then dancing around the property, Astoria Police Chief Stacey Kelly said.
Kelly identified the man as Jericho Labonte, 35, of Victoria, British Columbia. Labonte is also wanted in British Columbia for criminal harassment, abuse and failure to comply cases last fall, Kelly said.
Around noon Friday, the Coast Guard Awesome video shared The rescue, hours earlier, involved a newly trained rescue swimmer lowered from a helicopter by cable to a 35-foot yacht that was struggling in heavy surf. As the swimmers approached the ship, a large wave crashed into it, capsizing the boat and throwing a man, later identified as Labonte, into the water.
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Petty Officer First Class Branch Walton, a swimmer from Greenville, South Carolina, reached Labonte and pulled him to safety. A helicopter crew flew him to Coast Guard Base Astoria, where medics treated him for mild hypothermia and took him to a hospital.
The yacht’s owner, who lives in nearby Warrenton, Oregon, reported the vessel stolen later Friday, police chiefs said.
The hospital had already released Labonte when police saw Coast Guard photos and video and realized it was the same person they covered on security cameras at the Goonies’ home leaving the dead fish on the porch.
Police were still searching for Labonte Friday evening.
Kelly didn’t know what kind of fish it was, but police said it was caught locally because another person reported Labonte fishing after the video aired.
“It’s been a really weird 48 hours,” Kelly said.
The mouth of the Columbia, the largest river in North America that flows into the Pacific Ocean, is known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific” for its notoriously rough seas. The Coast Guard received a mayday call about 10 a.m. Friday from the boat while it was training nearby, Petty Officer Michael Clark said.
There was no information on the location or specific issue in the Mayday, but the agency responded to the ship’s location and nearby boat crews and helicopters.
They found the boat P/C Sandpiper taking on water in 20-foot seas, meaning the wave height in the rear trough could be as high as 40 feet, Clark said.
Walton, who had recently graduated from the Coast Guard’s rescue swimming program, was lowered from the helicopter by cable. Labonte climbed to the stern and prepared to enter the water when a huge wave hit the vessel and tossed it into the surf. The wave struck so violently that the ship capsized completely and wound up floating upright.
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Walton said in an interview Friday that he planned to reach the man, lower him into the water and hook him to the cable attached to the helicopter. Instead, the wave hit.
“I got thrown a little by the wave. When I came up, I noticed the boat was badly damaged,” Walton said.
After spotting him in the surf a short distance away, he directed the helicopter to bring him to Labonte. Most of his life jacket was knocked off by the force of the wave, Walton said.
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