Police in South Florida had to pull a woman from the water after she stripped down naked and jumped into the water with her 3-year-old nephew. According to WPLG, Miami police responded to the 400 block of Brickell Avenue around 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning (September 7) on reports of a vandalized flood light.
An officer found 27-year-old Nataliia Marina, her sister, and her sister's young son, but the family took off toward a nearby sea wall, officials said. During the attempt, Marina reportedly. threw off all her clothes before plunging into the water with the toddler.
“It’s just disturbing, you see this child which entrusts his aunt to take care of him,” Miami Police Capt. Freddie Cruz said during a press conference. “She actually threw him in the water with her.”
Footage shared by Only in Dade shows officers trying to coax Marina onboard a boat, and she responds by swiping at authorities with her discarded clothes. Another clip shows the nude woman trying to swim across the water with the boy, both of their heads barely above the surface. Marina was eventually pulled onto the boat along with the child, according to Cruz.
"She was evaluated. And I guess the determination was that she was in a normal state of mind, that she was okay to face charges," the police captain said. “There’s nothing normal about this.”
Reporters said Marina is from Ukraine and was living on the streets of Miami. A police report claims 14 flood lights were destroyed before her arrest.
She's now facing charges of child abuse causing no great bodily harm and criminal mischief. The 27-year-old was also cited for resisting arrest.
Police said the 3-year-old boy was put in the custody of the Florida Department of Child and Families. No word on what happened to the sister.