A Weirsdale man was arrested after allegedly trying to drown two people in a canal and refusing to come ashore when found by law enforcement.
Deputies responded to 12806 Blue Heron Way in Leesburg regarding a suspicious person, later identified as 39-year-old Barry Speakman, around 10:06 p.m. Friday, according to an incident report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
The female witness advised that she saw two young adult males run behind her house, and they told her that the man in the boat, Speakman, was trying to drown them. She then heard a big splash and went inside to tell her husband, the report said.
Upon the deputies’ arrival, the witness gave more details of the incident. She said she was outside with her dog in the back of her house by the canal when she heard a splash in it. She then saw two men roughly in their 20s walk in between her house and her neighbor’s house, the report said.
When the witness asked them what they were doing, they stated the guy in the boat was trying to kill them. They proceeded to walk to the road and left. She could hear Speakman in the canal splashing trying to get in the canoe, the report said.
The witness then went back into her house and told her husband what she saw. She further advised that she saw the man in the canoe and two young males on the dock prior to her making contact with them, the report said.
The deputies searched the canal until he found Speakman, who was paddling up and down the canal. Deputies tried multiple times to get him to come ashore to no avail. After about 30 minutes of going up and down the canal trying to get Speakman to talk, he advised them that they were violating his rights, and he did not do anything wrong. They eventually got him to come ashore and detained him, the report said.
At that time, Speakman advised he was just trying to find his friend’s house and was lost. After multiple attempts to ask him why he was there, he kept answering the same way and could not provide any other information on the friend’s house. He could only advise that his friend’s name was “Tony,” saying he was just lost. Deputies asked him multiple times who the people were that he was with, and he said that he was with no one, the report said.
Speakman was ultimately charged with loitering or prowling and resisting officer without violence. He was transported to the Lake County Jail and released on his own recognizance. He is responsible for appearing in court Feb. 28.
