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PROVO — Police officers had to rescue a man before they could take him to jail.
The incident began Saturday morning while Utah County sheriff's deputies were patrolling the Sandy Beach area of Utah Lake. When a deputy approached a man in a vehicle about 11:20 a.m., the man got out of the car and ran before he could even talk to him.
The deputy approached the man's vehicle and discovered about 1,200 feet of copper wire on the ground and in the car, said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon.
The wire appeared to be the type that is used in and around railroads. Union Pacific Railroad investigators have since identified it as those taken during thefts totaling thousands of feet of wire from the train tracks in Spanish Fork Canyon, Cannon said.
Deputies searched for the man for several hours before receiving a call about a person who was stranded on Utah Lake in the Mud Lake area. The man was heard calling for help by duck hunters around 6:45 p.m.
Cannon said the water was chest-deep and obscured by reeds that grow 6 feet high. The duck hunters were unable to find where the voice was coming from, and a helicopter was ultimately dispatched to find the man and guide rescuers to his location.
"It was almost a needle in the haystack that (rescuers) were even able to find him," Cannon said. "He had bunched the reeds together and laid on top of them. ... They couldn't see him, but they could see the reeds and were able to see him hanging on to the reeds."
Deputies determined he was the same man they had approached at Sandy Beach earlier in the day. Cannon said they don't believe he entered the water when he first saw officers, but probably spent at least four to five hours in the lake.
It took search and rescue officials three hours to retrieve the man and he reported that he only stopped where he did because he "couldn't move," Cannon said. He was approximately four miles from Sandy Beach when he was located.
"He probably could have died if he hadn't been heard," Cannon said. "And if he'd died there, it'd be a low chance of discovering him. ... He's lucky to be alive."
Reo Guy Watts, 30, of Springville, was treated for hypothermia at the scene before being arrested for investigation of possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools and obstruction of justice.
A search of court records show Watts has an extensive criminal history, including charges of misdemeanor assault, second-degree felony burglary, criminal mischief and possession or use of a controlled substance.
At the time of his arrest, he was on probation and was wearing an ankle monitor tracking device. He is currently in the Utah County Jail.
Email:emorgan@ksl.com
