A Gwinnett County fugitive had to be rescued Wednesday from the Chattahoochee River after trying to escape a bail bondsman, authorities said.
Ernesto Galvez, 31, was wanted by Suwanee police for failing to appear for a traffic violation and by Gwinnett County sheriff’s deputies for a probation violation when a bail officer tracked him to a Suwanee home in the Chattahoochee Run subdivision, police said.
Galvez ran out the back of the house toward the river when the bondsman knocked on the front door, and “either jumped or fell into the river and became distressed,” Suwanee police spokesman Capt. Cass Mooney said.
About 2:15 p.m., a caller reported seeing Galvez clinging to a branch in the river, and police alerted swift water rescue teams from Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services and the Johns Creek Fire Department, Mooney said.
“Gwinnett FD was able to extract the victim from the water,” Mooney said.
It is unclear how cold the river water was, but temperatures in Suwanee on Wednesday afternoon were around 45 degrees at the time of the incident, according to the National Weather Service.
Galvez was uninjured but was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for hypothermia, Mooney said.
Galvez also has an outstanding arrest warrant out of Seattle, he said.
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