A bare-chested Ozarks maniac just pulled the most unhinged getaway attempt of the year: ditching his car mid-chase, bolting across a bridge, and swan-diving headfirst into a lake 50 feet below, only to fight the cops like a wet raccoon once they dragged him out.
Gavin Thor Lundgren, 26, of Kimberling City, Missouri, was allegedly ripping along at 75 mph in a 45 zone early Saturday when Stone County deputies lit him up. Instead of pulling over like a normal person, the tattooed hillbilly led them on a high-speed chase that ended on the Kimberling City Bridge over Table Rock Lake.
Dashcam video shows the Chevy Malibu rolling slowly forward as Lundgren pops the door, stumbles across the opposing lane, and launches himself over the railing in a perfect headfirst dive. The car kept creeping along with his driver’s license sitting pretty on the passenger seat, because nothing says “I’ve thought this through” like leaving your ID behind while you fling yourself into the drink.
Sheriff’s deputies peered over the edge in pure disbelief. Somehow the guy survived the plunge into the lake. Officers tracked him near the shoreline, where the fun really started. Lundgren allegedly headbutted them during the struggle, leaving three deputies with scrapes and facial lacerations. The smiling mugshot that followed shows a bloodied, shirtless Lundgren grinning through the aftermath like he just stuck the landing at the Olympics.
He’s now facing charges of aggravated fleeing, third-degree assault, and a couple of counts of fourth-degree assault. Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader basically said this was a first for the department, and he’s just glad the diver lived to see the booking photos.
In the Ozarks they call it a “swan dive.” Everywhere else they’re calling it pure, unfiltered hillbilly chaos. And the video is already everywhere.
