He Got a $5,000 Ticket for Posting This Sign Where an Entire Family Drowned: 'I Just Said, the Heck With It

He said he was trying to save lives — but wound up getting a $5,000 ticket for "criminal mischief."

Michael Medill, a 66-year-old Forest Grove, Oregon, resident, said he was fed up with people dying at dangerously unmarked drop-off points around Henry Hagg Lake. On Saturday, he went and posted eight handmade warning signs around the lake, the Oregonian reported.

Local media turned out to cover Medill's public act, but once the reporters left, Medill told the newspaper, police detained him for an hour before slapping him with the criminal mischief ticket.

Michael Medill with one of his homemade warning signs. (Image source: Oregon Live)

Medill said locals have been lobbying for signs ever since a 2012 incident in which eight kids almost drowned in Hagg Lake. When an entire family — three generations deep — drowned in the lake last month, Medill was spurred to action.

"For two years we've been trying to get signs up. So I just said, the heck with it," Medill said. "That's just crazy to not have signs up. That's criminal. You go up to the beach, there's always signs posted at any entrance to the beach of the dangers."

Local law enforcement removed Medill's signs on Sunday, the Oregonian reported.

Medill said he's got a good amount of cash left over from his days as a developer in Costa Rica, so he's prepared to take Washington County law enforcement to court over the sign issue.

"I'm set financially," Medill said, "and I like pursuing righting wrongs."

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