Good samaritans face fine after rescuing deer from icy water

They fought to save a life, and now they say they’ll fight the fine. It all revolves around the rescue of a deer trapped in icy water on Thursday night. Strangers banded together to pull a deer out of the freezing water of the Patapsco River near Linthicum.

“We seen the deer going under,” said Khalil Abusakran. “It couldn’t maintain. It was starting to freeze, and it was really getting bad.” Abusakran brought a raft, and Jim Hart joined him. “We had oars and shovels to break the ice, for the deer to get out,” Abusakran said.

But in the excited aftermath of the rescue, a natural resources police officer on the scene wrote both men a ticket.“And he didn’t say anything,” Jim Hart said. “We went in and out of the water numerous times. He didn’t stop us at all.” They say they were ticketed for not wearing life vests, although both are over the age for mandatory use of flotation devices.

“No, we didn’t have vests on, but we’re not 16 years old,” Abusakran said. “There were personal floating devices on the boat.” The ticket itself doesn’t check off any specific violation, just a $90 fine. They’ll fight it in court, as they fought for the deer. The two men ticketed say they will fight the citations at the court hearing in Annapolis set for Feb. 18.