Kayaker and girl are found safe, but the man was already in trouble, SC cops say
Searchers scoured a river and used thermal imaging from a helicopter to find a man and a 12-year-old girl who went missing in kayaks Monday evening on the Twelve Mile River, according to WSPA.
The pair made it back to the Cateechee Beach Park, about 15 minutes north of Clemson, South Carolina, Tuesday morning, the TV station reported.
But when the two made it to shore after a night on the river, Pickens County sheriff’s deputies arrested the man, identified as Daniel Timothy Falu, Fox Carolina reports. Deputies arrested the 40-year-old for a probation violation, according to the station.
“Falu was detained and put in handcuffs by deputies at the scene after he and the girl were found safe,” WSPA said.
Deputies from nearby Oconee County charged Falu with attempted murder and cocaine possession in April 2018, WYFF reports. Officers accused Falu of beating up a man and slashing him with a box cutter, according to WYFF.
He had cocaine in his pocket when he was arrested, the station reports.
The attempted murder and drug possession charges were dismissed in February when Falu pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of possession of less than one gram of methamphetamine or cocaine base, 1st offense in February, court records show.
A judge gave Falu a three-year suspended sentence and five years’ probation, with credit for 304 days served for the guilty plea, according to Oconee County court records.
Records show a magistrate in Walhalla, South Carolina, issued a warrant for Falu on May 15 for failure to appear on a pending assault charge related to his arrest last year.
