Ga. native plans swim in handcuffs, shackles

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia native says he’s planning a daring swim across the Mississippi River in handcuffs with his hands behind his back, shackles around his legs and a blindfold to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Jay Platt tells The Associated Press that he will attempt to cross the swift-moving river while wearing the constraints, and won’t try to remove them unless an emergency arises.

Platt said he plans to enter the river in Mississippi south of Memphis, and swim to the Arkansas side on Nov. 11, Veterans Day.

Platt, a Marine and Valdosta, Ga., native, said he taught water survival to fellow Marines. He said the swim is “highly dangerous,” and that he plans to have at least one swimmer with him who has keys to the handcuffs if things go badly.

He now lives in Beaufort, S.C.