Tsunami hero arrested after returning home

Tsunami hero arrested after returning home

SYDNEY: An Australian man who earned praise for saving more
than a dozen lives during the Asian tsunami disaster was arrested
on his return home Monday, after police recognized him in a
television interview from Thailand.

Queensland man Thomas Connell had been dubbed "the good
Samaritan of Patong Beach" for his rescue role during the tsunami
disaster on the Thai resort island of Phuket, Australian news
agency AAP reported.

But police said they recognized Connell, whom they had been
hunting for two years, after he appeared on television talking
about his rescue efforts. Police greeted Connell at Brisbane
airport and charged him with assault causing bodily harm relating
to a home invasion in 2002.

Connell said police had the wrong person. "To be a lifesaver,
saving 20 people, and then come back to my own country and I'm
going straight into a bloody jail cell? It's mistaken identity,"
he said. -- DPA