CAPE CORAL, Fla. —
Cape Coral police arrested Timothy Farnham after he reportedly spent nearly two hours swimming in a canal along Northeast 39th Street, ditching his clothes before being caught.
Witness Jacqueline Qualls said she saw Cape Coral police, Cape Coral Fire, and Lee County EMS swarm her street. When she looked out from her lanai, she saw a man swimming in the canal, trying to get away.
“So all the authorities just kept pushing down with him. Then at some point, he came back this way, and they had a boat at that point, but there were authorities all over the place,” Qualls said.
Police identified the man in the canal as Farnham. They said the situation was domestic-related but did not specify what Farnham had done.
Video footage shows Farnham swimming closer to a Cape Coral police boat before an officer pulled him out of the canal. Neighbors say he ditched his clothes.
“He’s giving up,” a voice can be heard saying in the video.
Qualls said she took her children inside when she saw Farnham was naked.
“At that point, I was inside with the kids to get them away from that,” she said.
Neighbors said Farnham had been acting oddly, asking for a ride and getting into a fight.
“I was just selling bracelets, and this guy, he was walking. And there was like drones everywhere. And he was like attacking the person who was delivering. And so my cousin, we like ran and told my grandma and [grandfather],” said Bella Cobb, another witness.
Qualls said Farnham was arrested outside her home and appeared exhausted from swimming away from officers.
“Once they got him onto land, they did cover him up to get him out to the EMS, but that’s about all I really know,” Qualls said.
Cape Coral police said Farnham will face charges including domestic violence battery, hindering communication to law enforcement, and resisting without violence once he is released from the hospital. Gulf Coast News is working to figure out what led up to this arrest.
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