The Coast Guard immediately dispatched members of its National Motor Lifeboat School who had been training nearby, the crew of a Jayhawk helicopter, and a rescue boat.
A routine Coast Guard training mission turned into a dramatic rescue at sea and an even more dramatic arrest over the weekend.
It all happened on Friday off the coast of Oregon when a "Mayday" call came in from a nearby yacht.
The Coast Guard immediately dispatched members of its National Motor Lifeboat School who had been training nearby, the crew of a Jayhawk helicopter, and a rescue boat.
Footage shows that moment that Aviation Survival Technician 3rd Class John “Branch” Walton, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in training, got just a few lengths from the vessel only to watch a massive wave topple the boat.
Lt. Will Sirokman was piloting the helicopter tasked with making the rescue as the rough waters made it too difficult for a boat to complete the mission.
"That rogue wave came in, and you know the boat look like it was a little bath toy," Lt. Sirokman tells Inside Edition. "As it turns out, we were there just in the nick of time."
The "Mayday" mariner was later identified as Jericho Labonte.
The rescue is just the start of the story however, because soon after receiving medical treatment, Labonte found himself in handcuffs.
A brief manhunt broke out after it was discovered Labonte checked out of the hospital before a warrant could be obtained for his arrest, says the Astoria Police Department. He was apprehended a short time later and is now in custody.
Labonte is accused of stealing the yacht just days after cops say he put a dead fish on the porch of the Oregon house that was made famous in the "Goonies" film.
"No idea," says Astoria Police Chief Stacy Kelly when asked about a possible motive.
"He did confess to taking the vessel, leaving the fish," Kelly adds.
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