A boat with illegal migrants from Haiti and the Bahamas landed on a Jupiter, Florida beach Friday morning after ramming a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit vessel at sea.
Beach goers captured the chaotic scene, showing the group disembarking from the boat and running up the beach before disappearing into the brush.
The sheriff’s office reported that the group has been apprehended and detained.
Joey Fago captured exclusive video of the incident.
The captain of the boat, identified as Bazaeluis Francois, 30, suddenly rammed into the Marine Unit’s vessel, damaging two engines, before taking off.
A sheriff’s office helicopter and additional marine units pursued the migrants’ boat, which Francois eventually beached just north of the Juno Beach Pier, the sheriff’s office said.
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“There was a couple with a small baby, a toddler. One man had jumped offshore pretty far off and was kinda getting washed onshore,” Steve Sargent said. “I thought he was drowning, so me and another man kinda helped pull him out of the water. Once the police got here, they apprehended him.”
Francois was immediately taken into custody and arrested on two counts of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer.
The migrants, now in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, will be processed and repatriated according to the sheriff’s office.
Hat Tip John