Fleeing suspect arrested after cold swim in East Fork White River

Photo courtesy of Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.
Jeremy S. Dillman. Photo courtesy of Jackson County Sheriff’s Department

Jackson County deputies arrested a man wanted on a warrant, but only after fishing him out of East Fork White River.

Sheriff Rick Meyer says that deputies received word that 36-year-old Jeremy S. Dillman of Medora was at a home in the Shieldstown area Thursday afternoon. Deputies found a vehicle Dillman had reportedly been driving but he was nowhere to be found. Footprints led from the home along the riverbank.

When a deputy found Dillman about a quarter mile away, he jumped into the river, swam 15-20 feet away and then grabbed onto a log. Indiana conservation officers and Brownstown Fire Department were called in and a fire department hovercraft with a deputy onboard, pulled Dillman from the water.

He was checked out for hypothermia at Schneck Medical Center before being taken to the Jackson County Jail on a felony warrant for domestic battery in the presence of a child. He is now facing new charges of resisting law enforcement.