Ryan McMinn spent the Fourth of July doing the backstroke in a gator canal while two deputies stood on the bank begging him to come out.
When he finally tired out, they waded in to drag him to safety – and he tried to kill them.
Here is what happened, and why McMinn is now looking at felony charges on top of a DUI.
What Ryan McMinn Did on the Fourth of July
Deputies responded to Wadsworth Elementary School in Palm Coast on July 3 for a welfare check on Ryan McMinn, 47, who was found lying shirtless on the school grounds.
McMinn ran.
A resident called emergency communications to report a man crawling through their backyard and trying to climb the side of their house.
Deputies found him again – and McMinn jumped into a canal.
Not a swimming pool.
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Not a drainage ditch.
A canal the Flagler County Sheriff's Office describes as regularly infested with snakes and alligators.
McMinn refused every command to exit the water and treaded water for roughly an hour.
"What's your name?" a deputy asks him in the bodycam footage, as McMinn is seen swimming backwards. "You getting tired?"
When he started showing signs of exhaustion, two deputies waded in after him.
That is when McMinn attacked.
He Tried to Drown the People Saving His Life
Deputies were pulling McMinn toward shore when he turned on them.
He grabbed one deputy by the neck.
He shoved another deputy's head underwater.
He “tried to grab a deputy’s head to push it under the water, then tried to grab the neck of the other deputy,” the sheriff’s office stated.
This is not a man who panicked and pushed back.
This is a man who went from drowning in an alligator canal to trying to make a deputy drown in one.
Deputies eventually wrestled McMinn to shore and called Flagler County Fire Rescue.
He was treated on scene, transported to AdventHealth Palm Coast, and then booked into jail.
McMinn had already been removed from a nearby gas station earlier that morning for being drunk and disruptive – and when deputies encountered him at the canal, they noted watery eyes and the smell of alcohol.
He declined field sobriety testing and a breath test both.
What McMinn Is Now Facing
Under Florida Statute 784.07, battery on a law enforcement officer is a third-degree felony – punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine per count.
McMinn faces two counts of that, plus DUI.
Battery on a regular person is a misdemeanor.
The moment McMinn grabbed that deputy's neck, his morning drunk became a felony record.
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Sheriff Rick Staly – a law enforcement veteran who was himself shot three times while saving a fellow deputy's life – had the right reaction.
"These deputies went into the water to rescue this guy, and he responded by fighting them," Sheriff Staly said. "I commend our deputies for their willingness to get in a canal that usually has snakes and gators and pull this guy to safety before he drowned."
That is the job.
Jump into gator water on the Fourth of July, drag a combative drunk man to shore, take a choke hold – then write the report.
These deputies deserve every commendation coming to them.
McMinn is sitting in the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility on a $5,000 bond – saved from drowning by the same men he tried to drown.
Sources:
- Flagler County Sheriff's Office, "McMinn Arrest Release," FCSO.gov, July 5, 2026.
- Emily Reliquias, "Florida man arrested after fighting deputies pulling him from 'alligator-infested' canal," Fox 35 Orlando, July 7, 2026.
- "Canal rescue turns violent," Palm Coast Observer, July 6, 2026.
- "Watch Flagler deputies drag fleeing Palm Coast man out of canal," Yahoo News/FlaglerLive, July 7, 2026.
- "Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer," GabrielLawTeam.com, April 22, 2026.
