A Malibu surfer arrested for paddleboarding during the stay at home order faces a $1000 fine, 6 months imprisonment, or both. The paddleboarder was arrested in Malibu Thursday after ignoring lifeguards and police orders to get out of the ocean amid the stay at home order, authorities said.

The lifeguards flagged down some sheriff’s deputies for assistance, but the man decided he was staying in the water alongside the Malibu Pier.

Deputies summoned their patrol boat from Marina Del Rey, and the man swam to shore once it arrived, officials said. The patrol boat looks like its part of a Coast Guard Fleet! Nothing like the center consoles here in Miami.

He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of disobeying a lifeguard and violating the California Governor’s stay at home order, a misdemeanor.

Video credit: Brothers Marshall

Officials did not release any identifying information on the man. He could face a $1,000 fine, up to six months in jail, or both.

So far, the state order has not been heavily enforced. The heavy response to this “danger” means either police are bored or they’re ramping up the response.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a surfer in Manhattan Beach was fined $1,000, not arrested, last weekend after also ignoring orders to get out of the ocean.

Kim Prather, who works at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, told the Los Angeles Times that the beach could be one of the most dangerous places in California amid the outbreak. She said she fears the virus is being washed into the ocean and transferred back into the air along the coast.

“I wouldn’t go in the water if you paid me $1 million right now,” she told the newspaper.

malibu surfer arrested

Related story: Holland Cruise Passengers allowed to disembark

8 Responses

  1. I have studied this for 30 years, wrote a book about it. The poop of millions of corona impacted people flows to the waterways in cities like New Rochelle, NYC, and in polluted waters all over the world. It’s dumped from cruise ships, and found in public rest rooms. It can be breathed as sea mist, swallowed, or touched. Even China found it transmitted in sewage from the wet market. The exponential spread of this virus isn’t just from shaking hands. Get real world.

  2. The stay at home order allows for exercise so why is this guy getting arrested he’s all by himself out there in the ocean exercising what the frack California!

  3. If he walked to the shore and launched his board, surely this is exercise while maintaining social distancing…..

    Frank, I admit that it had not occurred to me that it was in the ocean as a result of sewage outfalls. That makes perfect sense and is very disturbing news.

  4. Marshall Law is NOT OK! He was not in anyones space. People are so easily manipulated with fear.
    The rise of Socialism is coming quickly and too many are rolling over and allowing government to dictate their every move. Wake up, we can govern ourselves.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *