Drunken Canadian swims across Detroit River (VIDEO)

This is a classic "hold my beer eh?" scenario; John Morillo caused an international rescue operation to commence after he decided to swim across the Detroit river. Morillo now faces a $5,000 fine and a ban from all waterfront city property.

The Windsor Star reports that Windsor police responded to the 1600 block of Riverside Drive around 11:30 p.m. Morillo’s neighbor, who wanted to witness his swim, called police about half an hour after she lost sight of him.

Police notified the Canadian and U.S. coast guards. Three boats and a helicopter were deployed to search the area. The U.S. coast guard found Morillo around 12:50 a.m., swimming on the Canadian side just west of the Hilton hotel.



Morillo is charged with being intoxicated in a public place. Police said the Windsor Port Authority was also investigating and would be contacting Transport Canada.

Morillo said Windsor’s harbor master told him he’ll likely be fined for swimming in a shipping channel, which could run anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000.

Authorities are also stressing that swimming in the Detroit River is “extremely dangerous” because of the strong undertow in the shipping channel. It’s also prohibited under Port Authority Operating Regulations. Harbour Master Peter Berry with the Windsor Port Authority couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.

“The harbor master was extremely mad at me,” said Morillo. “I don’t know, maybe they pulled him out of bed or something.”

Morillo’s ill-planned exploit was actually years in the making. It started when he heard a story about his grandmother swimming from Amherstburg to Boblo Island. He figured that didn’t sound so difficult.

“I was drinking, but I wasn’t really drunk,” Morillo said Tuesday. “The thing is, I’ve been telling people I’m going to swim across the river for years and they’re like ‘yah, yah, blah, blah, you can’t make it.’ So, I don’t know, last night I just decided it was the time to go.”

“I never should have done it. I’ve been telling people I could swim across the river for 20 years and they all laughed at me, and I finally did it. But I would not suggest anybody do it. There are giant fines for doing it, crossing the shipping lanes. It’s just really stupid and I apologize for all the people that had to go out looking for me.”