Man is pulled from bay, sent for evaluation

By Times Staff Writer
Published December 29, 2005

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TAMPA - Wrapped in a sheet, Randall Jude Konarik sat hunched in the back of a police van Wednesday morning, his sopping wet sweatshirt draped on a Courtney Campbell Parkway railing.

Tampa police divers pulled Konarik, 32, from Tampa Bay just before 10 a.m., after he spent 20 minutes walking in water about 20 yards from shore, refusing to come out.

Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said Konarik had been acting erratically, walking tightrope-style across the causeway's cement median and throwing small objects at cars. When some drivers called police, Konarik ran across traffic and into the water, Durkin said.

Durkin said police took Konarik to a hospital for a mental health evaluation under Florida's Baker Act, which allows authorities to take people into custody if they appear to be a danger to themselves or others.