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Man Who Swam Naked With Sharks Wanted for Medieval Times Assault

Toronto Police say they believe that this guy was kicked out of Medieval Times, assaulted someone, and then went skinny dipping in a shark tank. On Jazz Night.
A photo of David Weaver at Medeival Times and a naked man swimming with sharks. ​
Photo via Toronto Police Service and screenshot.

Warning: if you click on any of the videos in this story you’re going to see a naked man.

For most people getting kicked out of a Medieval Times for being “unruly” would be enough of an evening.

But not, allegedly, for one David Weaver, who is wanted by the Toronto police because of the following evening. Police say Weaver was kicked out of the dinner theatre, then allegedly assaulted someone, sending them to the hospital, then headed over to the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Aquarium in downtown Toronto, stripped down and, with his manhood flapping in the wind, jumped into shark tank… twice.

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Hoo boy. Let’s unpack this, shall we?

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Photo via screenshots.

So, to start, police are on the lookout for David Weaver, a 37-year-old British Columbian. They say the man was attending a show at Medieval Times on Friday when the first incident of the night occurred. Medieval Times, for those not in the know, is a famous chain of restaurants where you eat food with your hands as men dress as knights fight, ride horses, and command falcons in front of you. They also sell giant beers, but that’s aside from the point.

According to police, Weaver was “being unruly” inside the location and was confronted by security. It's not clear if the attack was random or something was sparked inside of the chain knight fighting restaurant.

“He was asked by security to leave at some point in time which was a bit of an incident from what we received as a report,” Katrina Arrogante, a media relations spokesperson with the Toronto Police Service told VICE. "He did leave a little after that and security checked on him as he was escorted away from the premise. When doing so they found one man that was allegedly assaulted by Mr. Weaver outside of the premise.

"The victim sustained some serious injuries and was taken to hospital for treatment. I understand he's already been released. He received a sore eye and a missing tooth."

Here is a video of Medieval Times so you can get a little idea of where this all went down.

By the time police had arrived Weaver was gone, he was heading east, he was heading towards the land of the sharks and smooth jazz. Here is where we enter Act Two of the evening.

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You see Ripley’s was enjoying its jazz night—the second Friday of every month where you can enjoy the famous combination of jazz and fish. At this particular jazz night, Weaver, for whatever reason, immediately after buying a ticket decided to go for a nude swim in one of the exhibits. The enclosure he chose was the ominously titled Dangerous Lagoon which features green sawfish, sand tiger sharks, green sea turtles, green moray eels, groupers and more, housed in a 2.9 million litre tank.

Thankfully we live in the surveillance age so we have multiple angles of the dip police allege Weaver took.

A video titled “Degenerate takes a dip in shark tank at Ripley's Aquarium” taken on the top of the enclosure shows the man, bare ass to the wind, swimming around the tank. Someone yells “sir” at him, but that doesn’t deter him as he says he can’t get out. From here Weaver doing a nice little lap before climbing out of the enclosure, balancing on a rock and attempting a back dive.

While the crowd cheers his attempt, it does not go well for the naked man.

While that video is fun, it’s the one taken from underneath, where you can see just how close Weaver came to the sharks and animals in the tank that really steals the show. In this video, entitled “Man swims naked in SHARK TANK,” you see sharks and other creatures float around the dude and his bare ass. Our friends over at Motherboard found out that, luckily, the sharks in the tank are sand tiger sharks which are typically docile but may attack if provoked.

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"The guy seemed totally relaxed and there were sharks, like, everywhere," an attendee who witnessed the swimmer’s action told CBC Toronto. "He appeared to be totally nude and, like, laughing."

"I don't know what would possess someone to do that. It's totally insane to me.”

Weaver finally gets out and, for seemingly the second time in his night is escorted out by security, this time naked. After getting through the crowd the man allegedly bolted and has yet to be caught. The brass at the aquarium say they plan to press charges.

At first, Arrogante said that police were looking into the crimes as separate until she noticed some similarities. She told VICE she was working on Sunday when the press release was issued regarding the Medieval Times assault went out and so was familiar with the photo of Weaver. When the video went viral yesterday, Arrogante said she looked at the photos and the videos which had been sent to her and the man started to see some links.

"He looked very familiar, it was all within around two to three hours, there were very similar suspect descriptions, and because of 14 division and 52 division, where these two locations took place, are neighbouring divisions," said Arrogante. "So I advised both sides of the detectives saying 'could this be your guy' and vice versa and lo and behold it is."

Weaver is wanted for assault causing bodily harm and mischief. Police say he’s driving around a green Dodge Caravan and is missing a front tooth.

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