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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a stranded boater near the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon on Friday, moments after a massive wave sent the pleasure craft tumbling through the surf.
In a bizarre twist, the person rescued from the boat was identified as the same man accused of placing a dead fish on the porch of a house featured in the 1985 film “The Goonies” during an earlier baffling incident.
On Friday, two Coast Guard air crews performing training missions responded to a mayday call from the captain of a pleasure craft — named “Sandpiper” — which was stranded in rough seas, according to officials.
“After notifying watchstanders at Sector Columbia River, who launched motor lifeboats from Station Cape Disappointment, the air crews arrived on scene to find the vessel floundering in the surf,” the USCG stated on social media. “The surf made rescue by boat dangerous, so the aircrew decided to lower the rescue swimmer and have the owner enter the water for rescue.”
Video of the rescue recorded by the USCG shows the wave capsizing the boat, causing it to complete a full roll as the rescue swimmer paddles to the man’s aid.
“Talk about arriving in the nick of time,” the USCG said.
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The rescuer was able to pull the man to safety moments later. The man was flown back to Coast Guard Base Astoria where he was evaluated by paramedics.
Stacy Kelly, the chief of police in Astoria, Oregon, later told Nexstar’s KOIN that the boater was identified as Jericho Labonte — the same person who left a dead fish on the porch of the “Goonies” house.
Officials said Labonte, 35, had taken the fish out of a garbage bag before placing it on the home’s porch, according to video captured by the homeowner. He then gave the middle finger to the camera, police said.
That doesn’t seem to be Labonte’s only run-in with the law as of late.
The Victoria Police Department had also previously reported that Labonte was wanted across British Columbia “for five unendorsed warrants for charges of criminal harassment, mischief and three counts of failure to comply.”
Authorities had been seeking Labonte for the dead-fish incident since Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
“It’s been a really odd 48 hours,” Chief Kelly told the outlet.
