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In a bizarre incident, a drunk Canadian man swam across the Detroit river from Canada to the United States and nearly returned the same way, but was stopped by international rescue teams and arrested for the stunt.
A woman told the police that her friend, John Morillo, a 47-year-old man from Windsor, entered the DetroitRiver in hopes of swimming across and did not return.
He swam from Windsor in Canada to Detroit in the US but was arrested on his way back.
After the US and Canadian Coast Guards were notified late Monday night, three boats and a helicopter were deployed to search for Morillo, The Detroit News reported.
The US Coast Guard found the man on the Canadian side of the river at 12:30 am Tuesday, just west of the Hilton Hotel, and returned him to the Canadian shoreline.
Morillo did not suffer any injuries during the stunt, police said.
"If I'm going to be in the paper, I'd at least like them to say I actually made it, even though I got in trouble and everything," Morillo told the Windsor Star.
"I gotta pay fines and stuff. But I don't want it to sound like I didn't make it, because then my buddies are going to say 'ha, ha, you didn't make it'. Because that was the whole thing, to show them I could do it," he said.
He was arrested and issued a citation for being intoxicated in a public place. The Harbour Master of the Windsor Port Authority is investigating the incident.
Morillo also told the Star Windsor, which first reported the incident, that he was informed he will likely be fined up to USD 25,000 for swimming in a shipping channel.
Windsor police said swimming in the DetroitRiver is extremely dangerous because of the undertow in the shipping channel. It is also illegal under Port Authority regulations.