Holiday crowds and a heat index in the triple digits do not always make a good combination.
It apparently became downright unpleasant for two families and two deputies on July 4th. It all started with two teenagers on personal watercrafts receiving citations from Georgia Department of Natural Resources game wardens for jumping the wake of a pontoon boat on Lake Oconee.
The teens were reportedly part of the family on the pontoon.
“There were some people on the shore who clapped and expressed glee,” Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said. “They cheered because they thought DNR did a good job.”
The driver of the pontoon pulled his boat up to the dock, called the cheerleaders “(Expletive) Karens,” and told them to stay out of his business.
The people at the bank told him they live there and that every weekend, they see people violating the Georgia boating law.
(A PWC, operating at more than idle speed, cannot run around, ride or jump the wake of, or be within 100 feet of another moving boat.)
“They said they were glad someone was doing something about it because it’s dangerous,” explained PCSO Lt. Harry Luke.
The pontoon driver, later identified as Justin Flynn, reportedly told the residents, “I know where you live and I’m going back to the marina and get my gun out of my truck and will come back and kill you.”
Then he drove away.
Meanwhile, the DNR game wardens had left the area, and Lt. Luke and Detective James Turk came by in the PCSO patrol boat.
The residents waved them over to the shore and reported what Flynn had told them. Luke called the DNR game wardens for more information about the pontoon and its occupants. Then he and Turk headed to Anchors Marina to find the pontoon boat party and verify what the residents had told them.
There, they encountered a group of teens who pulled out their cell phones and started videoing the deputies as they got off the patrol boat.
“The kids told us, ‘we’re not telling you anything,’" Luke said. “We tried to talk to the mom, and she said, ‘I ain’t telling you (expletive).’ I guess they were all hyped up from the DNR tickets and from the argument with the residents on the shore, and it was just escalating.”
So, Detective Turk tried to talk to the kids to verify what the residents had said, but they wouldn’t even identify themselves and refused to talk.
So, Turk walked over to Flynn, who told him, “(Expletive) y’all. I ain’t telling y’all nothing.”
Luke tried to explain why they were there.
“He just didn’t understand that we were there to verify if what the people on the bank had told us was true, but they seemed to think we wanted to ask them about the jet skiers jumping the wake on the boat,” Luke said. “There was a bunch of people at the marina; they were very busy, and the heat index was 108 degrees.”
Luke called the DNR game wardens to the marina, and when they arrived, their onboard boat registration database was used to identify Flynn and find other names associated with the boat. Luke sent those names to the sheriff’s office, which brought up the driver’s license photos of the two women on the pontoon and at the marina, who had also refused to cooperate.
“So after two hours, we finally got everybody identified,” Luke said. “It was a long afternoon that should’ve been over with in just a few minutes. And then we would’ve been back out on the lake, dealing with other stuff. We were just trying to straighten out if what the people on the bank told us was true, and it kept us tied up for two hours instead of being able to help other people on the lake.”
Sills explained that no one has to talk to a deputy about a crime, even when asked. But when a deputy is investigating a crime, the person must identify themselves.
“If you’re just walking down the road, we can’t compel you to tell us who you are,” he added. “But if we’re looking into a crime, you do.”
Justin Leigh Flynn, 44, of Locust Grove, was arrested and charged with terroristic threats and acts (felony), and willful obstruction of law enforcement officers (misdemeanor). He was released on Monday on a $21,000 property bond.
Misty Michele Flynn, 40, and Katelin Leigh Flynn, 19, both of Locust Grove, were both charged with willful obstruction of law enforcement officers (misdemeanor), and released on $1,405 property bonds.