Man asleep with rum in raft

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Conservation officers and authorities in Crawford County, Indiana, said they "likely" saved a drunk man's life Sunday on the Blue River after they said he passed out in a raft "with a bottle of rum in his lap" and nearly went over the Milltown Dam. 

The man and his bottle of rum floated more than 7 miles down the flooded Blue River, according to a Facebook post by Indiana DNR Law Enforcement. 

Conservation Officers Neal Brewington and Jim Schreck found the man on the river but were unable to reach him with throw bags, Indiana DNR Law Enforcement said. The officers to no avail tried waking him up by yelling at him and blowing a whistle from the bank, according to the Facebook post. 

Meanwhile, authorities said the man's raft continued to float closer to "the boiling Milltown Dam." Brewington and Schreck set up "a tag line" across the river, while Conservation Officers Dennis Talley and Logan Hodges launched a boat into the river, according to the Facebook post. 

The man eventually "washed ashore a couple of miles above the dam," and a Crawford County Sheriff's Deputy was able to reach him, authorities said. 

After a medical evaluation, conservation officers arrested the man without incident on public intoxication charges, Schreck told WDRB News. 

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