MASSENA – A Hogansburg man was arrested after allegedly trying to flee in his boat at after he was spotted in the St. Lawrence River at night without running lights by a marked U.S. Customs and Border Protection vessel.

Abraham Lazore, 37, was apprehended shortly after midnight Saturday for allegedly attempting to flee law enforcement, a felony offense.

At approximately 12:25 AM Sunday morning, two Massena Border Patrol Station agents, patrolling the Saint Lawrence River, observed a camouflaged Crestliner johnboat cross the international border and enter the United States near Hogansburg without its navigation lights illuminated, a CBP press release said.

Federal law requires vessels traveling at night to illuminate their navigation lights, according to CBP.

The agents activated their emergency lights and commanded the vessel operator to stop near a boat landing near Racquette Point Road. Instead, the vessel operator steered back toward the shipping channel in an attempt to flee, authorities said. The agents used their loudspeaker and again commanded the vessel to stop, which the operator did.

After the Border Patrol agents pulled alongside, one agent asked questions while the second attempted to tie the vessels together in advance of boarding the johnboat. The johnboat operator identified himself as Abraham Charles Christopher Lazore.

While the agents called in the boater’s name for a records check, Lazore again attempted to flee, agents said. The johnboat’s bowline wrapped around one Border Patrol agent’s arm as Lazore first lurched his vessel toward and then away from the agents. The tangled agent was in jeopardy of being pulled into the river and dragged under Lazore’s boat when the second Border Patrol agent used his collapsible steel baton to strike Lazore’s hand. The Border Patrol agent’s baton strike forced Lazore to release the throttle and permitted the agents to regain control of Lazore and his vessel.

The Border Patrol agents arrested Lazore and transported him to the Massena Border Patrol station. Records checks revealed that Lazore is a U.S. citizen who has a criminal record in both the United States and Canada.

The Border Patrol is processing the johnboat for seizure.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.